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I. 



A 


Schoolgirl of Moscow 


BY 

MAY BALDWIN 

Author o( Two Schooltfirls of Florence,’ ' Barbara BeUamy/ 
Sarah’s School Friend,’ &c. 


WITH SIX COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS 

by 

W. Rainey 


E. P. DUTTON ©> COMPANY 

31 West Tweaty*Tliir3 Street 
NEW YORK 


( 2 - - 590 





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TO 

THE KIND FRIENDS AT MOSCOW 
WHO MADE MY STAY THERE 
SO PLEASANT AND 


PROFITABLE 






CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I. SOMETHING THE MATTER 

II. A head-mistress’s advice .... 

III. OFF TO MOSCOW ! 

IV. IN RUSSIA AT LAST 

V. AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET . 

VI. NOTHING BUT SNOW 

VII. A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 

VIII. NATHALIA 

IX. A ‘ CLASS-LADY ’ AND A BALL .... 

X. NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY .... 
XL RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS .... 

XII. THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS 

XIII. OLGA ARTHUROVNA 

XIV. MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS .... 

XV. THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES . 

XVI. NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS . 

XVII. MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET 
XVIII. HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART 

XIX. A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL 

XX. NINA’S DREAM 

XXL ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING .... 

XXII. A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM . 

XXIII. A TRIP TO PETERSBURG 

XXIV. A RUSSIAN GENERAL’S FUNERAL . 

XXV. A FRIENDLY WARNING 

XXVI. MATOSCHIK ... .... 

XXVII. AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY 

XXVIII. EASTER IN MOSCOW 

XXIX. A PARTY AND A PLOT 

XXX. MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT 


PAGE 

1 

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26 

39 

52 

66 

77 

89 

101 

113 

125 

139 

152 

164 

176 

188 

200 

211 

225 

238 

251 

264 

277 

288 

301 

314 

327 

338 

352 

365 



i 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PACK 

In an instant a fixed bayonet barred the way Frontispiece, 

‘ Oh my ! Well, of all the impudence ! ’ . . . .40 

‘ Why do you call all the English insincere ? ’ . . .123 

Without hesitation or surprise the girl gave up the sheaf of 

papers 159 

‘ I am not in the least annoyed at that ’ 219 

‘ If either of you move I will ring for the doornik \ . . 364 






A Sclioolg irl of Moscow 


CHAPTER I. 

SOMETHING THE MATTER. 

‘ TVT ANA, what *s the matter ? ’ 

X N * Matter ? What should be the matter, my 
deary ? ' replied the old nurse evasively. 

‘Now, Nana, it is very wrong to tell stories; and, 
besides, it ’s no use, for a baby could tell when you 
are not telling the truth,' expostulated a young girl 
of about fifteen, who looked far too big to have a 
nurse, and, as a matter of fact, had long since ceased 
to be in the nursery, which she was only visiting, as 
she often did, to see her old nurse. 

But nurse was horrified at the accusation of un- 
truthfulness, and replied with spirit, ‘ I tell an untruth, 
Miss Nina! It would be the first I ever told you, 
then, and you shouldn’t say such things to your old 
nurse.’ 

‘ Well, then, why do you ask me “ What should be 


2 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


the matter?” pretending that there is nothing the 
matter, or, if there is, that you know nothing about 
it, when any idiot — well, I only mean myself — can 
see with half an eye that you have been crying, and 
go about with a funereal air, while Aunt Penelope is 
“ tut, tutting ” from morning to night ? ’ 

‘ If you wish to know what is the matter with Miss 
Hamilton, you had better go and ask her. I am not 
in the habit of discussing my mistress ' 

‘As if she was your mistress,’ interrupted Nina. 
‘Why, you are like one of ourselves — like another 
aunt, Nana ; and I am never going to part with you 
for one day, so you will have to come on my honey- 
moon with me ; I shall make the arrangement at once 
when my future husband asks me to marry him. I 
shall say, “Do you marry my nurse Nana?” — Why, 
Nana, what is it? I am only joking. I am not 
thinking of marrying for a long, long time yet. You 
forget I am at school, and that I am only fifteen years 
old ! ’ cried the girl, as she saw a tear steal down her 
old nurse’s face, in spite of her efforts to control her- 
self and laugh at her young charge’s nonsense. 

The old woman fought with her emotion in vain ; 
while Nina, with a face half -sympathetic and half- 
suspicious, she did not know of what, stood and 
watched her struggle till it became too hopeless. 

And then the young girl threw her arms round 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


3 


the old woman’s neck, for the latter was crying 
unrestrainedly. 

‘It’s not your marriage I’m thinking of,’ Nana 
said, smiling amid her tears, which she tried to check. 
‘ There, never mind me ; I ’m a foolish old woman. 
And now run away, or you’ll be making me say 
something that ’s no business of mine to talk about.’ 

‘I shall go and beard Aunt Penelope,’ remarked 
Nina, as she walked out of the room with a determined 
air, and went in search of her aunt. 

She found Miss Penelope Hamilton with what her 
niece called her ‘ tut, tut, tut ’ air. But Nina had made 
up her mind to solve the mystery which was casting 
gloom upon the usually cheerful household, and, 
bursting in upon her aunt’s calculations, began with- 
out any beating about the bush. 

‘Aunt Pen, what’s the matter? Why is Nana 
crying ? ’ 

‘ I should think that is a question you had better 
ask her,’ said Miss Hamilton grimly ; and added, ‘ And 
how often have I told you not to call me by nick- 
names ? That is one of the bad habits you have 
learnt at your school. I really think for some things 
a change would be for the best.’ 

‘ Ours is one of the best schools in England, so we 
couldn’t very well change for the better ; and, besides, 
papa is quite satisfied with it, for I heard him say so 


4 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


to Miss Poole, so there is no fear of my being taken 
away. But I want to know about Nana; she’s 
crying her eyes out, and when I asked her what was 
the matter she said I was to go away or she should 
only be talking of other people s business. I am sure 
it was not my fault, for I only said she was to come 
away with me on my honeymoon — which was rather 
nice of me ’ 

Miss Hamilton dropped the pen with which she 
was writing, and stared at her niece. ‘Your — honey- 
moon ! Goodness me ! you ’re not, surely ’ 

A peal of laughter reassured her. ‘ Oh, you are a 
funny old dear ! ’ cried Nina Hamilton, still laughing. 

But her aunt replied stiffly, ‘ Do try to be sensible, 
Nina. There is no possibility of having any serious 
conversation with you ; you are always making un- 
seemly jokes, and it is a very serious time for us all 
just now.’ 

‘ You mean about papa’s Russian property ? But 
that is all over now — I mean the Revolution ; and if 
papa goes over to Russia and looks after it, he will 
get back all he has lost, he says.’ 

‘And you do not appear to see what a serious 
matter that is likely to be for all of us ? ’ questioned 
her aunt. 

Nina looked grave directly. ‘ Is there any danger 
now ? ’ she inquired quickly. ‘ If so, of course he must 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


5 


not go ; we would much rather be poor than have him 
run into any danger, of course. Wouldn’t we ?’ 

‘ Unfortunately your father has quite made up his 
mind to go, and declares that there is no danger.* 

* Then you may be sure he is right You say your- 
self papa is a very safe driver to go motoring with.* 

‘ But that *s not like going to Moscow with him ! * 
cried Miss Hamilton in tones of exasperation. 
hear they are still in a state of siege, and I never 
could bear Russians — people who walk about with 
bombs ready to throw at you if you happen to annoy 
them.* 

‘ Papa says they are a most affectionate people, and 
very enlightened,* replied Nina. 

Miss Hamilton gave a kind of snort, and taking up 
her pen again, remarked, ‘For my part, I prefer a 
little less enlightenment if it only leads to people 
having recourse to no such violent and unlawful 
measures.* 

‘Well, never mind, auntie. Papa will take care of 
himself; and as you are not likely ever to go to 
Russia, you need not mind.* 

‘ But that *s just what I am going to do ; and you 
too,* exclaimed Miss Hamilton at last. 

‘ It was Nina’s turn to stare now, and stare she did. 
‘ You — and — I go to Russia — to Moscow ? Do you 
really mean it. Aunt Pen — elope, I mean ? * 


6 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


‘Your father does, I am sorry to say, and a nice 
prospect it is.’ 

‘ Hurrah, how ripping ! Oh, what a lovely holiday we 
shall have ! Why, it ’s ever so much nicer than going 
to Scotland or some other uninteresting place. What 
a lot I shall have to talk about when I come back to 
school!’ cried Nina in a great state of excitement. 
‘ I must go and tell Nana not to cry any more. It is 
good news — not bad — and she is not to cry just 
because we are going away for a few weeks. 

‘If you were to pay attention to what one says, 
you would not run away with false notions like that. 
I never said we were going to take a pleasure-trip.’ 

‘ Oh, well, of course, papa will have his business to 
attend to, but that will not prevent our enjoying our- 
selves ; at least I mean to enjoy myself.’ 

‘I am glad to hear it, but I think you might show 
some consideration for my feelings. I am not so fond 
of change as you young people, and do not care for 
being uprooted at my age.’ 

‘Why, auntie, you are not so old as all that, and 
you went to the Mediterranean for a trip not very 
long ago, and Russia is not so far ; but if you dislike 
it so much, why does papa take us ? He has often 
been to Russia alone, and ’ — this with an air of 
making a great sacrifice — ‘ I don’t mind giving it up 
and going somewhere with you this summer.’ 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 7 

Miss Hamilton turned round and faced her niece. 
‘I think it is time you were told the whole truth, 
Nina, though your father was afraid of your talcing 
it too much to heart and wearying him with entreaties 
to be left in England if he told you.' 

‘ Oh, he need not have been afraid. I suppose he 
thinks I am afraid of the Revolution and that sort of 
thing ; but of course I am not. I shall like the change, 
and Miss Poole says there is no education like in- 
telligent travelling, and I shall be that — intelligent, 
I mean. I suppose we go for the Christmas holidays ? 
It will be rather cold there, so we shall have to have 
furs. Oh, what fun ! I shall make papa give me a 
squirrel coat down to my feet and a hat to match. 
He must, if we are to spend even a few weeks in 
Moscow. But why does papa go so soon, and how 
long shall we be away ? By the way, I don’t believe 
I can go. We have only three weeks’ holidays, and 
two days are gone already; and even if we start 
to-morrow — which I can’t possibly do, for my clothes 
are not ready — we should have no time to speak of in 
Russia.’ 

Miss Hamilton sat grimly listening to Nina’s torrent 
of words without making comment. 

When her niece stopped for want of breath, she 
remarked, ‘As the matter is quite settled, and it is 
quite decided that you are to go, I hope you will 


8 


SOMETHING THE MATTER, 


resign yourself to the inevitable, and not worry your 
poor father more than he is already.* 

‘ Of course I won t ; but we must make haste and 
start, or I shall never be back in time for the reopening 
of school. When do we start ? I can get all I want 
in a day, for that matter.’ 

Nina, or, to give her her full baptismal name, 
Ernestina Hamilton, had no mother, and had been 
brought up by her father’s elder sister, with the help 
of her nurse, and she had had more of her own way 
than was good for her, until she was entered at the 
London High School, of which she had just spoken so 
highly, where she learnt her ‘proper place,’ as her 
aunt observed ; but at home she still ordered her own 
clothes, with mild control on the part of Miss Penelope 
Hamilton. 

‘You will have plenty of time to get what you 
want before we go, for we do not start until after 
Christmas, and we shall stop for two or three days 
in Paris to do some necessary shopping, as everything 
is much dearer in Moscow than in London or Paris or 
anywhere else,’ said Miss Hamilton gloomily. 

At another time Nina would have been delighted 
at the thought of seeing Paris, which she had never 
visited ; but her one idea on hearing her aunt’s, or, 
rather, her father’s, plans was dismay. 

‘ But,’ she objected, ‘ we shall never be back in time 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 9 

for school, and Miss Poole does dislike that so much. 
She says it shows a want of interest in our work and 
disrespect to the school. Oh, do speak to papa, or let 
me speak to him and ask him to start at once ! ’ 

‘There is no such desperate hurry, Nina, for I do 
not suppose you will return to the High School when 
you come back from Russia.’ And having said so 
much. Miss Hamilton stopped. 

Nina stared at her aunt. ‘Not go back to the 
High School ? Why, what has happened ? Have we 
lost all our money ? Can’t papa afford to send me to 
school any more ? ’ 

‘Oh dear no! Pray do not get such ideas into 
your head. Your father would be very much an- 
noyed. You will probably go to the best school in 
Moscow.’ 

‘ Rats ! ’ burst forth Nina. 

Miss Hamilton was too scandalised to speak, and 
only looked her displeasure. 

‘ I ’m sorry, Aunt Pen — elope. It only shows how 
dreadfully I was surprised. I think you must be 
mistaken. What would be the good of my going to 
school for a few weeks, and in Russia, where I should 
not understand a word of the language ? ’ 

‘You will be there more than a few weeks,’ said 
Miss Hamilton quietly ; ‘ your father intends to stay 
two years.’ 


10 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


This time Nina did not say ‘Rats!’ or any other 
slang phrase, but stood speechless, staring at her 
aunt. 

‘Don’t stare at me like that, Ernestina,’ said her 
aunt testily; ‘you make me feel nervous, and it is 
not my fault. I am sure I dislike the prospect as 
much as you do; and, as I said before, it is much 
worse for me. I dare say you will enjoy it when you 
are once there.’ 

‘ I ’m not going ! I won’t leave the High School, 
and Miss Poole, and — and Nana, and everybody ! ’ 
declared Nina in a voice that trembled. 

‘ There 1 That ’s what your father said. He even 
wanted to let you start without knowing how long 
you were to be away ; but I insisted upon your being 
told, and this is how you reward me ! ’ said Miss 
Hamilton. 

‘Thank you for telling me, auntie; it’s a good 
thing you did, for I should only have come home 
when I found it out, however far we had got,’ replied 
Nina. 

‘ Do not talk so foolishly, Nina. And pray do not 
make a scene when your father comes in to-night, for 
he has quite made up his mind that it is the wisest 
course to take ; and you know when he has once said 
a thing he does not change.’ 

‘But if I can show him that it is not the 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


11 


wisest — and I easily can — he will surely leave me 
behind ? ’ 

‘ With whom, pray ? ’ 

‘With you and Nana, of course,’ explained 
Nina. 

‘ I am going with my brother,’ said Miss Hamilton, 
with an air of decision, ‘and Nana is going to 
Brockley ’ (Mr Hamilton’s country-place). 

‘ I shall go and talk to Nana about it,’ said Nina, 
leaving the room. 

Miss Hamilton turned to her desk with a sigh. 
‘ I knew she would not like it when she knew the 
truth ; but she had to be told, poor child. It is hard 
upon her to be taken away from her beloved com- 
panions and Miss Poole, who has such an excellent 
influence upon her,’ she said. And then Miss Hamil- 
ton took up her pen and wrote one of many letters of 
leave-taking which she was obliged to write before 
her departure. 

Meanwhile Nina, in a great state of excitement^ 
rushed up to the nursery, where she found her old 
nurse knitting peacefully by the fire. 

‘ Nana, how can you sit there knitting so happily 
when you know the dreadful news ? ’ cried the girl 
impetuously. 

‘ It ’s not so dreadful after all,’ was the old woman’s 
unexpected reply. 


12 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


‘Not dreadful for me to be going away for two 
years!’ exclaimed Nina. 

‘ Not for you, my deary. You are young, and you 
will make new friends out there ; and you ’ll come 
back quite a grown-up young lady, and so clever 
there’ll be no knowing you,’ said the nurse cheer- 
fully. 

‘Nana, you are a horrid old hypocrite 1 ’ cried Nina, 
putting her arms round the old woman’s neck, ‘and 
you are only saying that because you think it is your 
duty to say it; but you hate it just as much as I do, 
and you know that I shall not enjoy going to Russia 
for two years at all.’ 

‘ Nay, nay, I am not so sure of that,’ answered the 
old nurse. ‘You like change, and you have always 
wanted to travel; and now you are going to have 
your wish, and you must be a good girl and not 
worry your father.’ 

‘ That ’s what Aunt Pen says ; but I have made up 
my mind not to go, and ’ 

But nurse interrupted her charge. ‘My deary, 
before you go making a scene, which you know the 
master dislikes more than anything, you just go and 
see your school-teacher, the one you are so fond of, 
and see what she says ; and if she says it will be for 
your good, you just come back and tell the master 
that you 11 try and like Moscow.’ 


SOMETHING THE MATTER. 


18 


‘Very well/ said Nina, rising from her seat; ‘to 
please you, I will go and see Miss Poole ; but I am 
sure she will be on my side, and I dare say she will 
even write a note to papa begging him to leave me 
with her or somewhere near, so that my studies may 
not be interrupted.’ 


CHAPTER II 


A head-mistress’s advice. 

N ina put on her hat, and, without asking her 
aunt’s permission, went off to see Miss Poole. 
If it had been term-time she might have hesitated 
to call upon the head-mistress; but it was holi- 
days, and the occasion was not an ordinary one. 

Miss Poole was at home in her pretty snuggery, 
and did not seem at all surprised to see her young 
visitor. 

‘You have not come to say good-bye already, I 
hope ? ’ she said, holding out her hand to Nina with a 
welcoming smile. 

‘ Then you know ? ’ replied Nina with a reproachful 
look. 

‘Yes, Ernestina; and you must not think that I 
am not very sorry to lose you, and sorry for the 
cause that obliges you to leave us,’ said Miss Poole. 

‘ But why am I obliged to go ? ’ cried Nina eagerly. 
‘ Why can’t I stay here in some boarding-house and 
come to school daily as I do now ? ’ 

Miss Poole looked grave. ‘I understood that Mr 
Hamilton had made up his mind to take you with 
him ? ’ she observed. 


A head-mistress’s advice. 15 

‘So Aunt Penelope says; but I have not spoken 
to him yet, and I am sure if I tell him how much I 
want to stay, and if you would just write a note and 

say you advise it too’ began Nina. But Miss 

Poole looked so discouraging that she stopped 
abruptly. 

‘I should not think of giving any such advice. 
Your father knows his own business best; and even 
if I felt inclined to interfere, I do not see any 
necessity,’ she said. 

‘But you don’t think it right that I should be 
taken from school at my age, with my education 
unfinished ? ’ exclaimed the girl in such tragic accents 
that Miss Poole smiled. 

Then seeing that Nina was in real trouble, she 
replied gravely, ‘ I am, as I have said, very sorry to 
lose you, and if you were going to be taken away 
from school for good — I mean, if you were not going 
to another school — I might perhaps express my 
regret to your father; but this is not the case. I 
understand that you are going to school as soon as 
possible after your arrival at Moscow.’ 

‘ But what will be the good of that ? I shall not 
understand a word, and a Russian school cannot be 
compared to this one ! ’ cried Nina. 

Miss Poole laughed outright this time. ‘ I am very 
much obliged for your good opinion of our school, 


16 A head-mistress’s advice. 

and I quite appreciate your loyalty ; but I should be 
afraid to say that it was as good as the school to 
which you are going, and I only hope you will not 
look down on us when you have been to a Russian 
Gymnase, as I believe they are called.’ 

‘ Me compare a Gymnase school, or whatever they 
call it, to this one! No indeed. Miss Poole; there is 
no fear of that. But are the schools in Moscow so 
good, then ? ’ 

'You will see, and I think you will be as- 
tonished at the attainments of Russian girls of your 
age.’ 

‘I know they are good at languages,’ said Nina 
gloomily ; ‘ that ’s because they have such an awfully 
difficult language themselves. And,’ she added, as 
the thought suddenly struck her, ' that is one thing 
against my going to school there — I shall never be 
able to learn their language. And how shall I get 
on ? Oh, it will be horrid ! ’ 

'Not so bad as you think. In the first place, all 
the educated people talk French, and often German 
as well.’ 

' I can’t talk either,’ said Nina in depressed tones. 

'Then it is time you did, seeing that you have 
learnt both languages for the last four or five years ; 
and you will have to do so in Moscow ; so we have 
discovered one advantage in going there.’ 


A head-mistress’s advice. 17 

* I thought you would have sympathised with me,’ 
said Nina dejectedly. 

‘So I do, my dear child. I know you will feel 
leaving your many friends here; but two years is 
not for ever, and for many things I envy you. Russia 
is a very interesting country, especially interesting 
just now, though you are too young to understand 
that. But I am very glad you have come to see me, 
for there are many things I should like to say to 
you. One piece of advice I give you is to keep a 
guard over that tongue of yours. Remember Russia 
is not so free as England.’ 

‘ You mean that they will send me off to Siberia if 
I say anything they do not like ? ’ said Nina in a tone 
of alarm. 

‘Not exactly,’ laughed Miss Poole; ‘but you might 
get yourself into trouble, or cause your father some 
annoyance. And, besides, it is the worst possible 
taste to comment on the affairs of other nations when 
you are in their land on a visit.’ 

‘ Oh, I sha’n’t take any notice of their Revolution ; 
and, besides, that is over, isn’t it ? ’ 

‘ For the present ; but the country is always in a 
state of ferment. At all events, remember my advice, 
and remember to look for the good in everything. 
The majority of your schoolfellows will have a 
different religion from your own, and it may appear 

S.M. B 


18 


A head-mistress’s advice. 


superstitious to you ; but remember it means a great 
deal to them, and every religion has some good and 
some beauty in it. So look out for the beauty and 
the goodness ; and whatever you do, never laugh at 
what appears odd to you. Promise me that, Ernes- 
tina,’ wound up Miss Poole seriously. 

‘ I promise, Miss Poole,’ replied Nina gravely. ‘ I 
can’t help criticising people and seeing the funny 
side of things, but I will never laugh at the Rus- 
sians or their religion — at any rate, before their 
faces.* 

‘Nor behind their backs, I hope; but I do not 
think you will be much tempted, for you will find 
them very intelligent and pleasant companions.’ 

‘If anything strikes me as very funny, I suppose 
I may laugh over it with Aunt Penelope at home ? * 
demanded Nina quite seriously. 

‘ Of course,’ replied Miss Poole. ‘ But you will have 
your own mistakes to laugh over to begin with, and 
I do not think, somehow, that you will find so much 
to laugh at in other people. And now, there is another 
piece of advice I should like to give you.’ Here Miss 
Poole stopped, and seemed doubtful as to whether she 
should continue. 

But Nina said eagerly, ‘ Go on, please. Miss Poole ; 
I sha’n’t be able to ask you anything for the next 
two years.’ Here Nina’s voice began to tremble. 


A HEAD-MTSTRESS’S ADVICE. 19 

‘Well, it is just this; I do not know what kind of 
school it is to which you are going at Moscow, but 
I do know that some Russian schoolgirls — quite as 
young as you even — are in the habit of talking 
politics, and even of taking part in plots and such 
things. Now, I hope you have too much common- 
sense to do so ; still, I should like to warn you not to 
have anything to do with such things.* 

‘You mean blowing up people, and that kind of 
stuff? * said Nina contemptuously. ‘ No fear — I mean, 
I am not likely to be so silly and wicked ! * 

‘ You think it silly now ; but when you hear other 
girls talking of such acts as heroic you may be 
tempted to sympathise, and I want you to promise 
me that you will never have anything to do with 
politics, or to talk about them with the other girls.’ 

‘ But if they insist upon talking to me, what am I 
to do ? ’ demanded Nina. 

‘ Decline to discuss the matter, and if you cannot 
help hearing, say boldly that you are too young to 
form an opinion, and that you think they are too 
young also, and change the subj ect. W ill you promise ? 
That makes two promises you will have made me 
to-day.’ 

‘Yes, I promise. This will be far the easier to 
keep,’ said Nina lightly. 

‘ I do not know so much about that. However, let 


20 


A head-mistress's advice. 


US hope you will not come across any advanced young 
ladies, and that if by any mischance you do, you will 
not on any account encourage or be drawn into their 
politics. There is one thing that I envy your seeing,' 
continued Miss Poole, changing the conversation, ' and 
that is the Kremlin ; it has been the dream of my 
life to see it. You must write and tell me what you 
think of it and of all the other wonders of Moscow. 
I shall enjoy getting letters from you.’ 

‘ Will you really ? ’ said Nina, looking pleased. 

‘ Then I will write every week.’ 

Miss Poole shook her head. ‘ I am afraid that is 
asking rather too much of you, though I shall look 
forward to hearing from you sometimes; but re- 
member that your letters are liable to be read by 
the Post-oflBce officials.’ 

‘ What ! ’ cried Nina, horrified ; ‘ my private letters ? ’ 

*Yes; all letters are supposed to be read before 
they leave the country ; but fortunately very few are, 
as it would take too much time. Still, it is best to 
avoid public matters, as a rule.’ 

Nina sighed. ‘ I wish I were coming back instead 
of going.’ 

‘You are down in the depths to-day. I expect 
that your spirits will rise as soon as your journey 
has begun, and that Aunt Penelope will have enough 
to do to keep you in order.’ 


A head-mistress’s advice. 


21 


* Aunt Penelope will miss you dreadfully, Miss 
Poole,* said Nina mischievously, ‘ for she always 
threatens to tell you if I am obstreperous ; and 
now she will have no one to threaten me with, for 
I sha’n’t care a button for my Russian teacher; 
and even if I did Aunt Pen could not complain 
to her, for she can’t speak a word of anything but 
English.’ 

* Your Russian head-mistress will be able to speak 
English, unless I am very much mistaken,’ replied 
Miss Poole very quietly. 

And then Nina said good-bye, and went home much 
subdued. 

‘Well, my deary, and what did the school-teacher 
say to you ? ’ inquired nurse, who, to Nina’s annoy- 
ance, always spoke thus of Miss Poole; and this, 
added to the fact that nurse had proved right and 
herself wrong, aroused in Nina a strong desire to 
tease the old woman. 

‘ She said I should have to go ; but she warned me 
not to open my mouth, as it was dangerous, and to 
be careful what I wrote to her, as they open all your 
private letters. So you won’t get much news of me 
while I’m away, Nana, even if I escape Siberia, which 
seems doubtful.’ 

‘ Save us, my deary, she never said that ! Then I 
shall speak to the master myself ; for let you go to 


22 A head-mistress’s advice. 

that savage land without speaking a word to stop it 
I can’t.’ 

‘I shall have to go now, nursie. And it isn’t so 
bad as all that ; they do open letters, but only if they 
suspect you of being an anarchist or anything of 
that sort, and I don’t mean to mix up in their 
politics.’ 

* I should think not, indeed, at your age ! ’ said nurse 
severely. 

Meanwhile Mr Hamilton, who had come home, was 
sitting in the drawing-room with his sister, listening 
to the tale of Nina’s indignation at the news, and 
waiting with more anxiety than he would confess 
to himself for his daughter’s appearance. 

‘ The fact is, we have consulted her far too much 
hitherto,’ observed Miss Hamilton. ‘ It is a mistake 
to spoil children.’ 

‘ I don’t call her spoilt. You can always reason with 
Nina; in fact, I consider that she has more sense than 
mStny a woman twice her age,’ replied her father, who 
idolised his only child. 

And then Nina came in. * Good-evening, papa,’ she 
said airily. ‘ I hear we are off to Russia next week ? ’ 

‘Yes,’ replied Mr Hamilton; ‘and I wish we were 
not, for many reasons.’ 

‘ What reasons ? ’ inquired Nina. 

‘Well^ for one thing, because I am sorry to take 


A head-mistress’s advice. 


23 


you away from Miss Poole’s excellent influence, and 
from a school where you are so happy and progressing 
so satisfactorily, and also because Aunt Penelope does 
not like the idea any more than I do; but it is 
absolutely necessary, and I could not endure the 
thought of parting with my little girl for two years ; 
though it appears she would be willing to part 
with me.’ 

‘ Oh no, I wouldn’t, really. It was only because I 
am horridly selflsh ; but I should have wanted to come 
after you in a month or two. I couldn’t get the 
idea out of my head that you were only going for a 
short visit and would come back to us in a few 
weeks. But I don’t mind the idea so much now, for 
Miss Poole says they have good schools there ; and, 
papa, you will have to buy me that muff and boa I 
wanted, after all.’ 

‘I hear it is a squirrel coat you have demanded. 
Well, we will go out to-morrow and see what we can 
get to keep the cold winds of Moscow out.’ 

‘ Won’t furs be much better in Russia, papa ? ’ 

‘ They will be much dearer.’ 

‘Will it be very cold, papa? I mean, shall we 
really have our noses frozen off as we walk along ? ’ 

‘ I hope not, indeed ! ’ exclaimed Miss Hamilton. 
‘I shall not stir out if the thermometer goes down 
below a certain degree.’ 


24 


A head-mistress’s advice. 


' I do not think there is much danger of that in the 
town ; it is on long sledge journeys in the country 
that that happens ; though, to be sure, I have known 
such cases even in Moscow.’ 

‘Well, really, James, I think you might have more 
consideration for our feelings than to tell us such tales 
when you know we are upset as it is ! ’ cried Miss 
Hamilton, looking meaningly at Nina. 

But the spirit of contradiction was strong in that 
young lady, and she answered, ‘I’d much rather 
know the worst beforehand ; and I suppose one can 
buy nosebags or something of that kind ? ’ 

Mr Hamilton laughed heartily. ‘ I have spent 
months in Moscow in the most severe winters, and 
I have never had to have recourse to such methods 
in order to keep my nose on my face ; indeed, I can 
assure you that after a time I did not feel the cold 
at all unpleasant ; not so much as I have sometimes 
done in England. And then there will be the 
delights of sledge-drives and skating; and — and — 
in short, I think that in course of time you will both 
be as happy as if you were at home.’ 

‘That would be a miracle,’ said Miss Hamilton. 
‘ But seeing that we are to go, the best thing is to try 
and look on the bright side of things and determine 
to make the best of it.’ 

‘I shall keep a diary, and send it to Miss Poole 


A head-mistress’s advice. 


25 


every week,’ announced Nina ; and in such desultory 
talk on the all-absorbing topic the evening passed 
away, and before she went to bed Nina felt quite 
resigned to the idea of spending two years as a 
Moscow schoolgirl. 


CHAPTER III 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 

W HEN Nina Hamilton woke up the next 
morning to the sound of her curtains being 
drawn aside by the maid, she rubbed her eyes, and, 
sitting up, asked abruptly, * Is it Moscow, Anna ? * 

‘ Moscow, iniss ? Why, no ; it ’s London ; and a good 
thing, too, seeing it ’s Christmas Eve. And it ’s bad 
enough to be going at all’ [Anna was going with 
the family to Russia] * without our going off before 
Christmas ! ’ 

‘ Oh dear, I am glad it was only a dream I I 
thought I was walking along the streets of Moscow 
buried up to my chin in snow, and I met a horrid 
Russian, who asked for my passport and was angry 
because I could not get at my pocket,’ observed Nina. 

‘Well, miss, you might have known that was a 
dream, for a body couldn’t walk up to her chin in ^ 
snow ; and it ’s to be hoped they aren’t such savages 
as to leave the snow on the streets to that depth, or 
I sha’n’t go out,’ declared Anna, who was from 
Dorsetshire. 

Anna was old nui'se’s niece, and only went with 
the family to oblige her aunt, so she said ; though it 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


27 


is probable that a love of novelty and excitement had 
a good deal to do with the willingness she showed to 
oblige old nurse. 

‘ They say Christmas is lovely in Russia/ said Nina. 

‘We can see that next year — if we live/ answered 
Anna. ‘ But please make haste and let me do your 
hair, miss, for I am going home for a few days as 
soon as I can get done.’ 

‘ You needn’t bother about me at all ; I will have 
Nana to-day,’ said Nina. ‘I may never have the 
chance again.’ 

‘La, Miss Ernestina! don’t be so down-hearted. 
I expect it won’t be so bad as we think. My brother 
says he has met some Russians in the city, and 
they’re as quiet, well-behaved folk as you could 
wish to see; and they told him Moscow was as civilised 
as London, and they’ve got electric light and baths 
with hot and cold water in the houses, and telephones 
and all that.’ 

With this parting consolation Anna went off, and 
Nina was dressed by her old nurse, and after break- 
fast went out with her father and aunt to do 
some shopping ; and, among other things, the coveted 
squirrel coat and toque were bought. 

The days flew by, and Nina woke up one morning 
with a feeling of depression. It was the day of their 
departure, and even the fact that they were to spend 


28 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


a few days in Paris did not have the expected effect 
of cheering her in the least. 

Mr Hamilton was obliged to leave them at Paris, 
in consequence of cables from Russia, and go straight 
to Moscow as quickly as possible. 

‘ Why can t we come with you ? * inquired Nina. 

‘Because, my dear, your aunt wants to do some 
shopping in Paris, and also because it will be more 
comfortable for you to take the journey more easily 
than I shall do, and break it at Berlin and elsewhere 
if necessary, whereas I must travel night and day.’ 

Miss Hamilton did not like night-travelling, and 
announced her intention of making a halt every 
evening and going to an hotel for the night. 

‘ Well, good-bye till next week,’ said Mr Hamilton 
cheerily. ‘ I expect you will find it best to push on 
once you get into Russia. But do as you like ; I shall 
expect you when I get a telegram to say you are in 
the express for Moscow.’ 

And so the party separated. Miss Hamilton spent 
three days in Paris shops, and Nina, under Anna’s 
charge, sauntered about the great picture-gallery of 
the Louvre, which was opposite their hotel, and other 
places of interest ; but the girl was not in a mood to 
enjoy it, and was glad when, on the evening of the 
third day, her aunt announced that she had made all 
the purchases she required, and added, ‘ I think it is 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


29 


time we went on, for I have really spent a great deal 
more than I intended ; still, the things I have bought 
will have to last for two years, and these shops are 
so fascinating/ 

And so the next morning they took tickets at 
Cook’s for a train de luxe to Moscow. 

*We shall be there in a week, even if we only 
travel by day ? ’ observed Miss Hamilton to the 
courteous and interested clerk. 

‘ Yes, madam ; but I should not advise that. If you 
stay the night in Berlin, I should think you will find 
it best to push on through Russia, for the carriages 
are so comfortable and the trains go so smoothly that 
you will sleep quite comfortably in the train; and 
Warsaw, where you propose to stop, is not — well — 
very quiet just now. Not that I wish to alarm you.’ 

* We shall see,’ replied Miss Hamilton after she had 
thanked her informant for his advice ; and soon they 
were in the hotel omnibus, which was piled up 
with their luggage, and Miss Hamilton and her niece 
and Anna drove off to the Gare du Nord, and took 
their seats in the express for Berlin. 

There were three other ladies in the first-class 
compartment in which they were — one French, one 
German, and of the third Nina could not decide 
the nationality. She spoke French with the guard ; 
but when the German lady got into difficulties about 


30 


OFF TO Moscow! 


her ticket she helped her in German, and performed 
the same kind office for Miss Hamilton, speaking 
English fluently with only a slight foreign accent. 

Across the vast plain of Europe they sped through 
France into Belgium. 

‘I never realised how flat it was,* observed Miss 
Hamilton, looking out of the window at intervals at 
the somewhat uninteresting landscape through which 
they were passing. 

‘ I suppose that is the first fact travel has taught 
me,’ said Nina. ‘I think it’s rather a slow way of 
learning geography. Here have we been jolting along 
for hours, and all I have seen is trees and bare fields 
and a flat plain just like what we have in England. — 
What have you learnt, Anna ? ’ she demanded of 
the maid. ‘ You don’t look very happy.’ 

‘ Well, Miss Ernestina, what I’ve learnt is that they 
heat the backs of the seats in France, and it makes 
me feel downright ill. Not that I wish to complain, 
ma’am ; but if I might just walk up and down the 
passage I should be glad, if it isn’t against their 
rules,’ said Anna diffidently. 

* Change places with me, Anna,’ said Nina at once. 

‘Oh no, miss,’ exclaimed Anna; ‘you’d never be 
able to bear it ! Put your hand here,’ she added. 

Nina did so. ‘Why, it’s boiling hot, Aunt Pene- 
lope! — Poor Anna, I thought you looked rather warm!’ 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


81 


The other ladies tested the back of the seat, and 
exclaimed in their turn, and the French lady, in great 
alarm, rang for the conductor. 

‘We shall be slowly suffocated. See, the heat is 
insupportable 1 What does this mean ? ’ 

The conductor smiled. ‘It is difficult to suit the 
tastes of all ladies. I have only been heating your 
carriage nicely for you,' he explained politely ; ‘ but 
I will moderate it;’ and he moved the cushion, and 
turned a handle which was placed at ‘ hot ’ towards 
‘cold.’ 

‘ There ’s a silly place to put hot pipes, between 
one’s shoulders ! ’ cried Anna. ‘ I ’m sure I hope the 
Russians will have more sense than the French ! ’ 

‘ Sh 1 sh ! ’ said Miss Hamilton, looking round 
warningly, and catching the eye of the lady linguist 
as she did so. 

The latter smiled, and replied in English, ‘ There is 
no danger of her being understood. I do not think 
our companions understand English ; and,’ she added, 
with an amused air, ‘ we have more sense than to place 
our heating apparatus at our backs.’ 

‘Oh, you are Russian!’ cried Nina impetuously. 
‘ So are we — I mean ’ — as her companion exclaimed — 
‘ we are going to Russia too.’ 

‘ So I saw by your tickets ; and to Moscow ? ’ 

‘Yes. Do you live there?’ inquired Nina before 


32 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


her aunt could warn her, by a look, not to be so 
inquisitive. 

But the Russian did not resent the question. ‘No ; 
I live in the Caucasus, and have a much longer 
journey to make, and this plain follows me all the 
way through France and Belgium, Germany and 
Poland, and across Russia ; or, if you like it better, 
the train follows the course of the plain. I have 
been wondering what you will think of the central 
plain of Russia, if you think this scenery dreary.' 

‘ Oh, but it will be covered with snow — that will 
make it pretty,’ remarked Nina. 

Their new acquaintance did not reply, and for the 
next few hours read a book, which she only put down 
at meal-time. As they approached Berlin she pre- 
pared to say good-bye. ‘ I am sorry I shall not have 
the pleasure of your society as far as Moscow. I 
should have been very glad to help you across the 
frontier, where one sometimes finds tiresome officials, 
but I must leave you here.’ 

‘But can we not travel together?’ replied Miss 
Hamilton, who was only too thankful to find some 
one who could talk the different languages necessary 
in crossing Europe. ‘My niece, upon whom I was 
depending as interpreter, has not proved of much 
assistance.’ 

‘ If I had known you were going to depend on me; 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


33 


Annt Penelope, I should have told you that I can only 
ask for the pen of my grandmother s cat, or some- 
thing equally useful,’ replied Nina; ‘and, anyhow, 
you couldn’t have expected me to interpret for you in 
Russia.’ 

‘Yes, indeed I did. You were first in French last 
term, and your father said French would carry you 
through,’ persisted Miss Hamilton. 

The Russian lady smiled. ‘So it does with the 
educated classes, but the ordinary railway officials 
do not speak French as a rule, and I should have 
been charmed to continue my journey with you ; 
but I am pressed for time, and cannot stay the night 
here.’ 

‘Then, if you will really be so good as to let us 
travel together, I will (contrary to my intention) 
travel by night also,’ said Miss Hamilton with sudden 
determination. 

‘ Oh, how jolly 1 ’ cried Nina impulsively. 

‘Not that I am not quite capable of travelling 
anywhere alone,’ declared Miss Hamilton ; ‘ but I find 
that when you have other people to look after, the 
matter becomes more complicated, especially in a 
foreign country.’ 

As Nina was only too glad to be relieved of her 
duties of interpreter, she made no comment on this 

change of front, though she was privately of opinion 

S.M. c 


34 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


that Miss Hamilton would have been equally unable 
to travel to Moscow alone as she found herself to be 
with Nina and the maid. But it was a weakness of 
Miss Hamilton’s to be considered strong-minded and 
independent, and her brother let her imagine she was, 
whereas in fact she was more dependent in many 
ways than her niece. 

In consequence of this change of plan, all the 
luggage had to be relabelled and hastily gathered 
together and put into the train for the Russian 
frontier, which, thanks to their Russian friend, was 
accomplished just in time. 

And then on they went across more dreary plains, 
till their Russian companion told them they were 
nearing Alexandrovna, on the Russian frontier. ‘ And 
I hope you will not be shocked, as I am going to put 
a new silk blouse on over my other, as they charge 
so exorbitantly for all new silk goods except those 
you are wearing. It is not smuggling, which I know 
you English are shocked at.’ 

But Miss Hamilton was not shocked at that idea, 
but at the news. ‘ They make you pay for new silk 
blouses ! ’ she said, sitting up very straight. ‘ But I 
have quite a lot — three for myself and two for 
Nina.’ 

‘Then I am afraid you will have to pay for them/ 
replied the other. 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


85 


‘ Is it very much ? ’ inquired Miss Hamilton doubt- 
fully. 

‘Nearly as much as the blouse itself,’ said the 
lady. 

Miss Hamilton said no more, but directed Anna to 
undo her portmanteau and get out the five blouses 
which had been packed thus to be ready for 
Berlin. 

The maid did so, and she as well as Nina wondered 
what Miss Hamilton was going to do. They had not 
long to wait. Solemnly and with great determina- 
tion, Miss Hamilton put on one blouse after the 
other. 

‘But, Aunt Penelope, they will never meet,’ ex- 
postulated Nina anxiously, who pictured her aunt 
being immediately detected by the custom-house 
officers. 

‘That is of no consequence, as they all do up 
behind, and I shall not take off my jacket,’ observed 
Miss Hamilton. ‘ But if you have any scruples, Nina, 
you need not put on yours. I decline on principle to 
pay a ridiculous tax for wearing-apparel which but 
for the accident of our coming straight on would not 
even have been new ; ’ and as she spoke Miss Hamil- 
ton gave a final tug at her top blouse, which made 
her look somewhat stout. 

Nina watched her aunt for a moment, and then 


36 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 


burst into a ringing laugh. 'Oh Aunt Penelope, if 
you could see how funny you look, all puffed out 
like that I ’ 

Miss Hamilton smiled grimly, and sat down again 
until the guard arrived with two Russian officials, 
who in guttural accents, which were, however, not 
like German, said, ' Passeporte ! ’ 

‘This is Russia, and they want your passports,* 
said their Russian companion, and it was most curious 
to notice how her manner changed and took an 
anxious tone. 

Miss Hamilton gave up her passport and her 
niece’s and Anna’s, and then they were all locked 
into the train until, the process of collection being 
over, it moved on, over the frontier presumably. 

‘That’s all right!’ said the Russian lady with a 
sigh of relief. 

‘ What ’s all right ? ’ inquired Nina. 

‘ Why, the people in the train. I mean that there 
are evidently no doubtful travellers in the train; 
everybody has a passport, or we should have been 
delayed.’ 

‘ I don’t understand. Why would that have delayed 
us?’ 

‘Because the train is not allowed to pass into 
Russia, or, rather, its passengers are not allowed to 
pass, until the authorities are satisfied that they are 


OFF TO MOSCOW! 37 

all provided with a passport. Last time * Here 

she paused. 

‘ What happened ? * asked Nina. 

‘Some had not proper ones, and we had to stay- 
while they were removed in custody.’ 

‘ How stupid of them to come without 1 ’ said Miss 
Hamilton. ‘Every one knows that a passport is 
necessary to go to Russia.’ 

‘Yes; but even I made a mistake once, much as I 
travel. I forgot to get the signature of a certain 
official to account for some few months of my stay 
abroad, and I was detained at the frontier; and a 
miserable time I had. I was kept in a hut in a 
little frontier village for a week, with nothing to 
do and nothing to read, and no one to speak to — at 
least, no one who understood me.’ 

‘ Why, how was that ? Were they not Russians ? ’ 
inquired Miss Hamilton. 

The Russian smiled. ‘Yes, they were Russians; 
but they could not speak Russian. They spoke a 
dialect of Slav. Thousands of the Czar’s subjects do 
not know a word of Russian; some speak only 
German, for example.’ 

‘ And how did you get out at last ? ’ inquired Anna, 
whom this tale had so affected that she forgot her 
place ; but the Russian lady answered good-naturedly, 
‘ They sent to the official in Italy, and he vis4d my 


38 


OFF. TO MOSCOW ! 


passport, and the Russian custom-house officer came 
and let me out, with many expressions of sorrow for 
the inconvenience I had suffered, and presented his 
bill, which was dearer than the one at my Paris hotel/ 

‘Oh ma’am, you’re sure the master has got our 
passes all right ? ’ cried Anne in horrified tones. 

‘ Evidently, since here we are all of us allowed to 
step upon Russian soil,’ replied the Russian lady with 
a sad smile, in which there was regret for the state of 
things which necessitated, or at all events tolerated, 
all this caution. 

It was with a thrill that Nina stepped out of the 
train and on to the platform, and made her way, 
between two rows of gendarmes, or policemen, with 
fixed bayonets, towards the custom-house, which, as 
in all boundary towns, adjoined the platform. 


CHAPTER IV. 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 

‘ isn’t it awful ?’ said Anna in a hoarse 

whisper. 

‘Nonsense; it’s all right!’ replied Nina sturdily, 
as she followed Miss Hamilton and their Russian 
friend into the custom-house room, closely followed 
in her turn by Anna, who looked the picture of 
terror, and now startled her young mistress by a 
faint scream, which attracted the attention of a 
custom-house official, who came hastily forward and 
(presumably) asked what was the matter, but from 
whom Anna shrank with fear. 

‘ What is the matter, Anna ? What did you scream 
like that for ? ’ demanded Nina. 

‘Oh miss, I’m very sorry; but I really couldn’t 
help it. One of those mustard-coloured men nearly 
touched me with his sword.* 

‘ Mustard-coloured ? ’ echoed Nina. * Oh, you mean 
the soldiers, or whatever they are, in those yellowish- 
brown overcoats ? I expect he never saw you, he was 
80 busy; but you had better not scream again.’ 

Nina did not say any more, for she did not want 


40 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


to make Anna nervous, or she would have added that 
her conduct might appear suspicious. 

Meanwhile Miss Hamilton stalked on — ‘ British ! 
Touch me not,’ written all over her — and took up her 
position inside a huge enclosure beside her luggage. 

* Have I to go in there, miss ? ’ inquired Anna. 

‘ No, Anna ; stay with Miss Ernestina. I will see to 
the inspection of the luggage,’ replied Miss Hamilton 
from inside. 

‘ It looks to me like nothing so much as a sheep- 
pen,’ murmured the maid — who was a village girl — 
to Nina, looking at the square enclosure into which 
Miss Hamilton and the other owners of luggage 
had been shut. * And whatever are they doing to all 
your best clothes? I’d better go and help to put 
them back again. Oh my ! Well, of all the impu- 
dence ! ’ 

This last comment was occasioned by the sight of 
a ‘mustard-coloured’ custom-house employ^ hastily 
pushing, higgledy-piggledy, part of the contents 
back into the boxes, while another walked off, with- 
out a word, to some other room with a large por- 
tion of Miss Hamilton’s wardrobe crushed up in his 
arms. 

‘Robbery I call it, and nothing more or less!* 
cried the indignant Anna, following with her gaze 
the confiscated goods. ‘And I should like to know 





^ Oil jiiy ! of rH the impudence !’ 


Page 40, 







IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 41 

what those beautiful clothes will look like when we 
unpack them at Moscow ! * she added, as she watched 
his companion thrusting the goods he had not confis- 
cated back into the boxes. 

Nina also was anxiously watching this perform- 
ance, and guessed that the articles were being taken 
off* to be taxed, but wondered why. When Miss 
Hamilton, who had also disappeared, came back with 
the Russian who carried dresses and other clothing 
in a bundle in his arms, and, with the man’s aid, 
‘ shovelled,’ in Anna’s words, the beautiful dresses into 
the boxes, Nina guessed from her aunt’s severely dis- 
pleased countenance that she had had to pay pretty 
high for her fine feathers. 

The packing, if such it could be called, being over, 
and the numerous boxes being with difficulty induced 
to lock — for Anna was a better packer than the 
shaggy, dirty Russian employes of the custom-house — 
Miss Hamilton rejoined the other two ; their Russian 
friend, having unfortunately been obliged to go to 
quite a different part of the hall, was now nowhere 
to be seen. 

‘She might have waited for us, I think,’ said 
Miss Hamilton, as she stood helplessly there looking 
round ; ‘ though, to be sure, she probably had to go 
where she was told.’ 

Meanwhile a man was calling out 'FasseportesTm a 


42 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


loud voice, and pointing the way to a small ticket- 
office, whither the three English travellers made their 
way to get their passports. 

And here great difficulties arose, owing to Miss 
Hamilton insisting upon asking for her passport as 
‘ Penelope,’ with an accent on the last ‘ e,’ whereas the 
Russians wished to pronounce it to rhyme with 
* envelope,’ of which pronunciation Miss Hamilton 
would have none. 

‘ Oh, do pronounce it as they like. Aunt Pen ! What 
does it matter ? ’ cried Nina, who was getting tired 
of the attention the discussion attracted. ‘ Say 
“ Penelop ” if it pleases them.’ 

* Ba, da, Pehnelop,’ repeated the man. 

‘No; Penelope-e,’ retorted Miss Hamilton; adding 
to Nina, ‘ My dear, I know what I am about. If I 
were to accept that pronunciation now, I should have 
to pronounce it like that in future, which I could 
never remember to do, and it would only mean 
trouble later on. No; Penelope Hamilton I was 
christened, and Penelope Hamilton I mean to call 
myself.’ 

‘Hamilton, da, da, da,' said another man; and 
after some discussion and a laugh, the passport was 
handed through the little pigeon - hole to Miss 
Hamilton, who walked off triumphant. 

‘ Well, there, one doesn’t even know one’s own name,* 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


43 


observed Anna; ‘and if poor old aunt heard me 
called out of mine, as I have been to-night, I don’t 
know what she ’d say, I ’m sure.’ 

‘They managed Anna all right. I believe it’s a 
favourite Russian name. But they did make rather 
a mess of Rough ton; though, as a matter of fact, 
they are right and we are wrong, for “gh” ought 
to be pronounced “ gh,” and not “ ow.” ’ 

‘ Oh, well, miss, Anna Roughton I was christened, 
and Anna Roughton I mean to be,’ replied Anna, 
copying Miss Hamilton. 

‘ There ’s madame,’ cried Nina, as she espied their 
Russian friend looking round for them in the large 
refresh m en t-room. 

‘Ah yes, I was carried off to have some of my 
luggage valued, and lost sight of you. Come and 
have your first meal in Russia.’ 

‘I should like some soup,’ said Miss Hamilton, as 
she saw the Russian with a plateful of hot soup 
before her. 

‘This is a typical Russian dish; I don’t know 
whether you will like it. It’s made of meat, fish, 
and cabbage.’ 

‘ It smells inviting, and it is hot, which is the great 
thing,’ observed Miss Hamilton. 

So three more plates of the soup were ordered and 
arrived. 


44 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


Anna, who was seated at the long table beside 
Nina, whom she did not quit for an instant, took one 
mouthful, and then an expression of misery came 
over her face. In the presence of her betters she did 
not dare to say anything, much less to leave it. What 
she would have said in the servants’ hall at home if 
such a mixture had been put before her is a different 
matter. 

There was certainly cabbage in the soup, for there it 
was floating about ; and there were also meat and fish ; 
but what else there was the party could not imagine. 
The cabbage, being fermented, did not taste like 
cabbage. When Anna wrote home to her old aunt, she 
announced that the food was very good in Russia, 
which was more than she expected, ‘judging from 
the awful stuff they gave us on the frontier, which 
no human being, not even a beggar, would have 
touched in England.’ 

However, the three manfully struggled through 
it, and were careful for the rest of the journey to 
confine themselves in the dining-car to dishes with 
French names and English tastes. 

‘ Will you give your tickets to this man to get you 
your seats, please ? ’ asked madame. 

Miss Hamilton did as she was told, and in her turn 
demanded why she had to pay several shillings for 
each seat when she had a ticket. 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


45 


* You always do/ replied the Russian ; ‘ but our 
trains are at least more comfortable than those of 
other countries. Only four people go in each com- 
partment, so that all can lie down/ 

Nina did not see at first how this was to be 
managed ; but it was now time to make for the train, 
and she noticed another thing, which was that madame, 
as they called their Russian friend, who had been so 
energetic in France, Belgium, and Germany, and had 
carried her own little bag and rug, now motioned to a 
porter to pick them up for her. 

‘No one ever does anything for himself in Russia; 
the porters would think you were low-born if you 
carried your own wraps,’ she explained, as she saw 
Nina taking up her travelling-bag. 

Great was Nina’s amusement to see Anna drop her 
mistress’s large roll-up, and nod to the porter who 
offered to carry it. 

Miss Hamilton stalked on, her fur cloak over her 
arm. ‘I don’t wish my fur to be carried by those 
dirty-looking men, if they are porters, and their 
opinion of my birth I don’t care twopence about ! ’ she 
observed, as she walked along the platform to the 
train. 

And then they walked into an oven, and an evil- 
smelling one, too. 

‘My dear — the heat ! We must open the windows 


46 


IN EUSSIA AT LAST. 


at once ! ’ cried Miss Hamilton, as she walked along the 
stuffy corridor with its double windows, which had 
wadding all round the edges to keep out the tiniest 
breath of air. 

The porter read the numbers on a wooden door, 
and then slid it back and entered with the hand- 
luggage, and the English travellers gasped. 

‘ Oh Aunt Pen, we shall be suffocated ! ’ cried 
Nina. 

‘ Oh no, we shan’t ! ’ retorted Miss Hamilton with 
determination. ‘ We will open the window ; ’ and she 
made for the little square aperture, about four feet 
by two, which was all there was to admit the light 
and air. But she had counted without her host, for, 
push and thump as she would, she could not move the 
window. 

At this moment the Russian lady came and asked 
anxiously, ‘What are you trying to do, madame? 
That window won’t open — at least, not till May.’ 

Miss Hamilton turned and gazed blankly at the 
Russian lady, to whom the porter was evidently say- 
ing something in the shape of a warning. 

‘Do you mean to say that we have to wait till 
May — the month of May — for them to open this 
window ? Impossible ! ’ she cried, and thinking she 
had misunderstood, she set to work with renewed 


energy. 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


47 


* Pray desist, dear madame ; it is not allowed ! The 
windows are hermetically sealed at the beginning of 
October, and only opened in May,’ the Russian lady 
assured Miss Hamilton. ‘ But you can have the door 
open in the daytime if you like.* 

It should be explained that the compartments in a 
Russian train are like wooden cubicles, and have no 
windows or glass sides as in English trains, and even 
the door is of solid wood. 

Miss Hamilton sat down on the seat and looked 
round for ventilation, but saw only a tiny aperture 
not two inches square. 

Here a diversion was caused by the starting off of 
the train and by the entrance of another porter, who 
demanded something of the Russian lady. 

* He wants to know if he is to make our beds,* she 
observed, turning to Miss Hamilton. 

‘Oh, I don’t know, I’m sure. We can’t sleep on 
the floor ; at least, I can’t — though I don’t expect to 
sleep at all in this black hole; nor can we sleep all 
four on two seats,* said Miss Hamilton gloomily. 

‘ That will be all right,* replied the Russian lady, as 
she said ‘ Da, da ’ (‘ Yes, yes *) to the man, who forth- 
with pulled out and up upon springs the backs of the 
seats, and fixed them about four feet above the seat 
as another long seat or bed, as is done on the Channel 
steamboats. 


48 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


‘Well, that is a good idea,’ cried Nina. ‘I believe 
I shall sleep in spite of want of air even, for I am 
very sleepy.’ 

‘ Which we well may be, seeing that it ’s the middle 
of the night,’ observed Anna ; ‘ though what the time 
exactly is I am sure I can’t say, for these clocks are 
all wrong by me, and have been all along the line.’ 

‘We have been travelling towards the sunrise,* 
explained Nina. 

‘ Well, I can’t make out how we can leave Germany 
at one time and arrive here before we left,’ persisted 
the maid. 

Even Miss Hamilton smiled, but neither tried to 
explain this phenomenon to the girl, for they were 
too tired. 

And now, the beds being ‘made,* Nina and Anna 
clambered up by the little ladder at the end of the 
compartment, which when not so used made a small 
table, and were soon asleep in their novel beds. 

Not so Miss Hamilton, her love of hygiene making 
the close atmosphere very trying to her, and she sat 
most of the rest of the night looking out of the 
little window on to the moonlit plain through which 
they were passing. 

Next morning the porter came to ‘unmake’ the 
beds and sweep out the compartment, and again 
madame said, ‘Da, da,' as usual twice over. 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


49 


‘ What a funny thing to call all these common men 
“dada”!’ said Anna in a whisper to Nina; ‘and yet 
they don’t treat them so well.’ 

‘I believe it means “Very well.” I shall ask/ said 
Nina ; and she did. 

* Da means “Yes,” and we have a habit in Russia 
of repeating it several times over,’ explained madame. 

‘ There ! that ’s one word we ’ve learnt, and not so 
difficult either,’ said Anna, looking very pleased. 
‘ Russian can’t be so difficult after all ; though, to be 
sure, it sounds all “ chahs ” and “ chews ” to me.’ 

‘Now,’ said Miss Hamilton, ‘let us go and have 
some breakfast. I don’t feel as if I could eat ; but I 
dare say I shall feel better after a cup of coffee. If 
only one could have these windows open for ten 
minutes, or even the passage windows,’ she groaned. 

‘ Couldn’t they open them for a consideration ? ’ she 
inquired of the Russian lady. 

‘ I am afraid not ; you see, it is against the rules, 
and the process of sealing is not to be done by an 
ordinary porter, and the next passenger, unless he 
happened to be an Englishman, would complain and 
refuse to stay in the compartment,’ replied madame. 

Miss Hamilton sighed, and contented herself with 
standing on the bridge between the two carriages 
for a few minutes now and then until they arrived 
at Warsaw. 


S.M. 


D 


50 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


‘ I am afraid you have come to the wrong place if 
you are so fond of fresh air/ said the Russian. ‘ In 
Moscow all the windows are, just like these, double, 
and hermetically sealed till May. Your stay in Russia 
is hardly likely to be a congenial one. I wonder you 
came.* 

‘ You don’t wonder half as much as I do/ replied 
Miss Hamilton. ‘ But as for the windows in Moscow, 
those in my house will open, if I have to get special 
permission from the Czar,’ she declared. 

‘What are you going to have special permission 
from the Czar to do. Aunt Penelope ? ’ inquired 
Nina. 

‘ What I like in my own house,’ said Miss Hamilton 
rather shortly ; for what between want of sleep and a 
bad headache from want of air. Miss Hamilton was 
feeling rather cross. 

‘ I expect poor auntie wishes now she had not been 
so independent and refused father’s escort/ said Nina 
to Anna, as she glanced pityingly at her aunt. For Mr 
Hamilton had offered to come back and meet them, 
or to find his sister an escort ; but Miss Hamilton had 
expressed her entire ability to perform the three 
days’ journey without such aid. 

However, at Warsaw she declared that she should 
stay the night. ‘ I can’t go on for two more days in 
this awful train,’ she announced. 


IN RUSSIA AT LAST. 


51 


‘You cannot go on in this train in any case, for 
you will have to change at Warsaw,’ remarked the 
Russian lady to console her. 

‘ The next will be as bad, I suppose,’ replied Miss 
Hamilton gloomily ; ‘ at any rate, I shall have had 
one good night’s rest, and if you will be so kind as to 
ask that we may be directed to an hotel where they 
speak English, we shall get on all right now, thanks 
to your kind assistance.’ 

‘I am sorry that you have not been pleased with 
Russia so far,’ replied the lady courteously. 

‘Well,’ said Miss Hamilton, struggling between a 
desire to say something polite and her natural truth- 
fulness, ‘I can’t say I like the landscape as yet; it 
seems rather dreary and monotonous about here, and 
very sparsely populated ; but I believe Moscow is 
very interesting.’ 

‘ The landscape is dreary. I always feel dreadfully 
depressed as soon as I cross the frontier, and do not 
recover my spirits until I come in sight of my home, 
and then — there is no place like home, especially to a 
Russian. I believe we Russians are more homesick 
than other nations.’ 

‘ The Germans take a lot of beating,’ said Nina dryly. 
And then she heard the porters crying out, ‘ Yarsovie ! 
Varsovie ! ’ 


CHAPTER V. 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 

* "T X THAT place is this ? * inquired Miss Hamil- 
V V ton. * It seems to be a town.* 

* This is Warsaw,* replied the Russian lady. 

‘I think not; they called it Varso — something,* 
objected Miss Hamilton. 

‘ That is it — Warsaw in English, or Varsovie in 
Russian,* she explained. ‘ Shall I get you a carriage ? * 
Miss Hamilton was only too pleased to get out of 
the hot, stuffy train, and descended with alacrity to 
the crowded platform. 

‘ What a babel there is on this platform ! Do you 
suppose it is an excursion ? ’ inquired Nina of her aunt 
as they threaded their way through crowds of peasants 
and poorly dressed people, who sat in crowds, huddled 
together, apparently waiting for their train to start. 

Miss Hamilton looked askance at the wretched- 
looking creatures, and observed, ‘ I suppose they are 
Poles, since we are in Poland, and by the look of 
them they are mostly paupers; I shouldn’t wonder 
if they were on their way to us.* 

‘ Well, there, I ’m sure we don’t want them, for a 
more miserable-looking lot I’ve never seen!’ cried 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 53 

Anna, with the dislike of her class for possible 
beggars. 

‘Some of them have got awfully nice furs on/ 
remarked Nina. 

Here the Russian lady put Miss Hamilton and the 
two girls into a carriage for the best hotel in the town, 
and said good-bye, after having been heartily thanked 
by her late companions. 

‘Well, one thing that papa said has come true. He 
said the Russians were always ready to help foreigners, 
and very good to strangers travelling in their country,’ 
observed Nina. 

And this they found true wherever they went; 
it is a characteristic of the nation, and a result of 
their kindly, affectionate natures. 

But now, with a whoop and a flourish of his whip, 
their driver started, and they set out for their drive 
across Warsaw, or Varsovie, to the hotel to which 
their Russian acquaintance had directed them. 

It was snowing, and Anna exclaimed, ‘ Miss ! — 
ma’am ! don’t they have umbrellas in Russia ? ’ 

Miss Hamilton’s attention being drawn to the fact, 
she said, ‘ To be sure, no one has an umbrella up. I sup- 
pose these are the poorer people who have none.’ Miss 
Hamilton had yet to learn that umbrellas are not so 
usual in Russia as in England, for there all are in furs 
from head to foot and need not protect their clothes. 


54 AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 

Then for the rest of the drive the three travellers 
looked with interest around them. 

As they drove up with a flourish at the door of the 
hotel Nina remarked, ‘ Aunt Penelope, I ’m sure that 
man 's an Englishman,* indicating at the same time a 
tall, fresh-faced man who stood looking out of one of 
the windows of the hotel. 

Miss Hamilton looked at him with interest. ‘ If he 
is, he is evidently afflicted with shyness, for he has 
disappeared — which I call most unfriendly, for he 
must know that we should be glad to see a com- 
patriot in this place,* wound up the lady. 

But the Englishman was not so unfriendly as they 
imagined, for when they entered the hall he was 
hovering in the distance, and on hearing Miss Hamil- 
ton demand the hotel proprietor in English, he came 
forward and offered his services. 

‘ Oh, thank you so much ! I thought the proprietor 
spoke English ? * 

‘ So he does, but he happens to be out just now,* 
replied their friend. ‘My name is Vicars, at your 
service.* 

‘ Thank you, Mr Vicars. I shall be so much obliged 
if you will kindly ask for three bedrooms. We wish 
to stay the night, and I wish to go to bed at once. I 
feel as if I should fall asleep this minute.* 

Mr Vicars gave the desired order, and a pleasant 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 55 

woman, with a face more German than Russian, 
showed them to their rooms. 

After their cold drive, Miss Hamilton was rather 
glad to get into the warm room, and to Nina’s relief 
did not demand the instant opening of the window, 
which, she observed, was also double and wadded and 
hermetically sealed. 

‘I feel as if I had not been to bed for a week,’ 
remarked Miss Hamilton with a sigh. 

* Poor Aunt Pen, you look it, too ; but I have slept 
quite well, so I shall go downstairs to the sitting-room 
and look out of the window with Anna.’ 

‘Very well, my dear; and don’t wake me up. I 
will come downstairs when I am rested,’ replied her 
aunt. 

Down went Nina in search of the lounge, but 
could find none. So they went into the only public 
room they could find, which was the dining-room, at 
present rather deserted ; and, not being hungry, they 
took seats at the window, apparently to the surprise 
of the waiters. 

‘Do you know, Anna, I believe it is not the 
custom to sit in the dining-room unless you want 
to dine,’ said Nina after a little time, as she 
noticed that every one who came in sat down to 
lunch. 

‘ Well, miss, that ’s natural ; but then they should 


56 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 


talk English, or else put the drawing-room where you 
can find it,* replied Anna. 

* All the same, I feel rather an intruder. What do 
you say to our taking a little stroll through the town ? 
There is sure to be a cathedral or something to be 
seen.* 

‘ I *m quite ready, miss ; with my furs I shall feel 
quite warm.* 

Anna was, as her young mistress suspected, rather 
anxious to wear the long fur-lined coat with which 
Mr Hamilton had presented her, and which she 
had not yet donned. So the two prepared to set 
'out. 

In the hall were several Russian servants of the 
hotel, and one, a superior-looking man, came forward 
and appeared to be dissuading them from venturing 
out, for he spread out his hands, pointed to the 
street, and shook his head. 

‘ He s saying it ’s too cold,* suggested Anna. * Tell 
him we *ve got warm cloaks j * and she opened hers 
to show the fur lining. 

This did not seem to be what he meant, and he 
continued to object ; but Nina, not liking at any time 
to be the centre of attraction, and feeling rather 
annoyed at what she considered his officiousness, 
passed him, and, nodding to him, continued on her 
way. He called something after them, to which Anna 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 57 

replied, as she turned round before going out of the 
door, * Da, da* 

‘ What did you say that for, Anna ? ’ asked Nina. 
‘You don’t know what you mayn’t have said 
“Yes” to!’ 

‘ Oh, well, I only meant “ It ’s all right ; don’t you 
worry,” ’ answered the maid airily. ‘ I expect he was 
saying it was too cold, and I don’t know that he 
wasn’t right. Miss Ernestina ; my nose feels regularly 
pinched.* 

‘ Oh Anna, rub it hard with snow ; I do hope it ’s 
not frozen 1 ’ 

‘ Not it, miss. Besides, it ’s when there ’s no feeling 
in it that it ’s frozen.’ 

‘How did you know that?’ inquired Nina, who 
also remembered this fact. 

‘I read it in a tale called the Exiles in Siberia 
I got as a Sunday-school prize.’ 

‘ If you are too cold, hadn’t we better go back ? 
And, oh Anna ! what is the matter with this man ? ’ 
Nina exclaimed, as a tall, well-dressed man of a dark 
complexion, looking very ill and pale, came towards 
them, slightly swaying as he walked, evidently from 
weakness. 

As he came nearer they noticed that he was 
followed at the distance of about a yard by two 
gendarmes, or soldiers, their uniforms being so much 


58 AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 

alike (long, brownish coats, black leather belts, and 
Astrakhan turbans with flat, cloth crowns) that at 
first Nina did not know one from the other. 

‘ He ’s being took up,' said Anna, in her excitement 
lapsing into bad grammar, of which she was not 
generally guilty. 

Nina guessed he was a political prisoner, and passed 
on a little saddened. But worse was to follow ; for 
as they turned a corner they came upon a batch of 
students, with their distinctive badge, a black port- 
folio under their arms, and they, in twos and twos, 
came hurrying past with the soldiers, two for each 
prisoner, following always at the same distance 
behind them. 

‘There’s not a soul following them. Isn’t that 
strange, miss?’ observed Anna. ‘Now, if it were 
London, what a crowd there ’d be to see such nice, 
well-dressed people being taken off to the station ! ’ 

‘I expect they daren’t,’ replied Nina; ‘but it’s 
horrid. Let ’s go back, Anna ; I begin to feel hungry, 
and perhaps Aunt Penelope is awake now and will 
wonder where we are.’ 

They accordingly turned back in the direction 
from which they imagined they had come ; but either 
they took a wrong turn or they failed to recognise 
the street, for in a short time Nina stopped and said, 
‘ I don’t remember this building.’ 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 69 

Anna looked at it doubtfully. *I can’t tell, I’m 
sure ; they mostly look strange alike to me ; and we 
don’t know the name of the street our hotel is in 
even if we could ask for it, and whatever they ’ve got 
written up at the street corners beats me.’ 

* It ’s Russian, of course.’ 

‘It’s a funny language; there’s a P upside- 
down and a B back to front as plain as plain can 

be.’ 

‘And that’s about all that is plain to me,’ said 
Nina with grim humour, ‘for I believe we’ve lost 
ourselves.’ 

‘Oh, don’t say that. Miss Ernestina! I wouldn’t 
be lost in this town for all I can see, for they seem 
to have but one idea, and that ’s to run you in. Those 
young gentlemen did not look rowdy or bad at 
all.’ 

‘ They were political people, and we don’t know 
anything about politics, so I don’t think there ’s any 
fear of our being interfered with. I almost wish 
there was, for I do not see how we are ever going 
to get back to our hotel.’ 

‘ Can’t you say like the young lady in the story- 
book — you know — who said, “ Becket, London ” — and 
got there in time ? ’ 

‘As we don’t want to go to either of those 
names ’ began Nina. 


60 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 


‘ I don’t mean that, miss ; I mean if you ’d say the 
name of our hotel — they seemed to understand when 
we said Moscow.’ 

‘ But, you see, the fact is, I don’t know the name 
of the hotel.’ 

‘ Then we are lost ! ’ declared Anna in tragic tones. 
‘Oh, whatever would poor aunt say if she could 
see us ? ’ 

For a moment Nina felt her heart sink — there was 
something so peculiarly weird in the solitary feeling of 
being in a strange land where she did not know a word 
of the language, and where, worse still, she did not 
know where she lived ; and then her unfailing sense 
of humour came to her aid. ‘I see nothing for it 
but to get ourselves taken up, as you call it, and 
then we shall be taken to the police-station — at least, 
I suppose they have police-stations in Russia, and an 
interpreter ’ 

‘Oh, miss, I couldn’t — I really couldn’t do it! I 
know I promised aunt I ’d take care of you, but 
I never said I ’d be marched along the public streets 
of Warsaw with two policemen, or whatever they call 
themselves, walking behind with their bayonets all 
handy to stick into you 1 ’ 

Nina could not help it — tired as she was, she gave 
a peal of laughter. 

‘It’s no laughing matter, Miss Ernestina,’ said 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 61 

Anna severely. ‘I’m perished of cold, and I can’t 
feel my nose,’ she added, putting her hand to that 
member. 

‘ It ’s all right at present, for it ’s red, and it gets 
white when it is frozen,’ announced Nina; ‘but if 
I were you I should rub some snow on, so as to be 
on the safe side.’ 

‘ I wish we were on the safe side of our hotel wall ; 
and I shouldn’t venture out without a guide again if 
I were you, miss,’ said Anna, taking up some snow 
and rubbing it on her nose, while she shuddered at 
the cold touch. 

But they were not there, and there seemed no like- 
lihood of their ever getting there, for they passed 
along one street after another, feeling colder and 
colder every minute, until at last Nina said in 
desperation, ‘Anna, I shall ask this gendarme the 
way to an hotel ; ’ and she stopped the man and did 
so — in English, of course. 

The gendarme looked blankly at her, and replied 
in Kussian, to which Nina replied by shaking her 
head ; and then he asked for their passports. 

Here was a difficulty. In their ignorance of 
Russia, they did not know that they were not allowed 
to walk about the streets of Warsaw without pass- 
ports, and, of course. Miss Hamilton had them. 

‘ Passports — no,’ said Nina, shaking her head. 


62 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 


That settled it. The gendarme made signs to them 
to precede him. 

‘Oh my, Miss Ernestina, look what you’ve done 
now ! And there comes another policeman to help 
him in case we should try to escape ! Oh ! why ever 
did I take such a mad idea into my head as to come 
here ? Back I go, miss, as soon as they let me free ! * 
cried Anna. 

‘ Nonsense, Anna ; you are free now ! These men 
only want to take us to some one who can under- 
stand us, and it’s better than dying of cold, or, at 
least, losing our noses in the streets of Warsaw.’ 

‘ If you call this being free, I don’t ! You just try 
to get away from these men, and see if they let you.* 

‘I will,’ said Nina; and out of sheer daring she 
waved the gendarme aside, and made as if she would 
go the other way. 

In an instant a fixed bayonet barred the way, 
and the gendarme, stepping to her side, said some- 
thing in very dictatorial tones. 

‘ For goodness’ sake. Miss Ernestina, don’t you do 
that again ! I was only joking. We ’re prisoners 
now, like those poor young gentlemen, and you made 
my heart jump into my mouth when that man ran at 
you with his sword.’ 

‘ He didn’t run at me, and he is only stupid, and 
will have to apologise when he finds out that we ai’e 


t 






SM.— Front. 


In an instant a fixed bayonet barred the way. 


Page G2. 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 63 

English travellers with proper passports/ said Nina 
with indignation. 

‘ Passports, da^ da — passports, repeated the man. 

‘ I haven’t got them ; they are with my aunt, Miss 
Hamilton, at our hotel/ replied Nina very slowly and 
distinctly. But her escort did not understand a word, 
and shook his head as he motioned her to continue 
straight on ; and on they went, willy-nilly. 

Suddenly Nina saw a commotion in front, and 
heard her name screamed rather than spoken; and, 
flying down some steps of a house, she saw Miss 
Hamilton, hatless and with outstretched arms, coming 
towards them. 

‘ Oh, my darling, my darling ! where have you been, 
and what have you done ? Why are these dreadful 
men taking you to prison ? * 

‘Because we have no passports, I think/ replied 
Nina shortly. 

This was the best thing she could have said, for 
passport was a word they were very familiar with, 
and the man again repeated it. 

For answer. Miss Hamilton produced them out of 
her pocket, and the Englishman, having heard of the 
occurrence by this time, ran to their aid. The matter 
was satisfactorily explained, and the two prisoners, 
with some parting words of regret — so they were 
told — were released. 


64 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 


‘Well, a nice trick to play me our first day in 
Russia ! Such an afternoon as I have had ! I have 
seen nothing but prisoners go by. Mr Vicars says 
the prisons are full, and revolutionaries are arrested 
at every moment ; and when I saw you two coming 
along under arrest too ’ 

‘We weren’t under arrest!’ declared Nina indig- 
nantly. 

‘ Then what were you doing with those policemen, 
or soldiers ? ’ inquired her aunt. 

‘ They were taking us to some interpreter.’ 

‘They were taking you to the police-station, and 
that is what is called being under arrest here, and 
in most other countries too; so you see what your 
venturesome spirit has led you into I For my part, 
I shall be thankful when we are safe in Moscow.’ 

‘ Perhaps it will be as bad there,’ suggested 
Nina. 

‘ At all events, we shall have your father to protect 
us,’ replied Miss Hamilton, though she looked rather 
depressed. 

‘I thought you said you could get on quite well 
without him?’ said Nina, to tease her aunt and to 
revenge herself for the indignities she had suffered 
that afternoon. 

‘ So I can in civilised countries ; but in this one a 
man is necessary, and I mean to start by the first 


AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET. 


05 


train in the morning.’ She accordingly inquired 
about trains of Mr Vicars, who had been explaining 
things to the hotel authorities, they being, like all 
Russians, very nervous, and not liking patrons of 
their hotel to return to it under arrest ; and he pro- 
mised to see them safely into the train, and send a 
telegram to Mr Hamilton to say the time of their 
arrival. 

‘ You will be all right in Moscow. This is Poland, 
and the Poles are in a state of ferment and revolution, 
and every one is in a state of tension. My house has 
had to be barricaded twice in the last six months ; but 
one gets used to it.’ 

‘I shall not get used to being taken up, because I 
can’t explain who I am,’ said Nina, who was very 
sore upon the subject, and objected to having made 
her return to the hotel in that ignominious man- 
ner, especially as she would have avoided it if she 
had taken the advice of the hotel servants. 


S.xM. 


E 


CHAPTER YI 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 

I T was snowing hard the next morning as Miss 
Hamilton and her companions, under the guid- 
ance of Mr Vicars, their English acquaintance, set 
forth from the hotel to go to the station in two 
sledges, for each sledge, being like a small and very 
low victoria, only held two persons. 

They crossed Warsaw, and the Englishman brought 
up the rear with Miss Hamilton, who insisted upon 
Nina and her maid preceding them, and keeping 
close before them. Mr Vicars pointed out to his 
companion the marks of recent bombardment on some 
of the houses. 

‘ I am truly thankful to think that the day after 
to-morrow we shall be in Moscow and under the 
protection of my brother!’ said Miss Hamilton, 
shuddering. 

‘Yes, it will be more agreeable; but there is really 
no danger, and I have not found the unrest interfere 
with my business in the least. Still, for ladies, it is 
alarming to see these constant streams of prisoners.’ 

Then they crossed the square of the royal castle 
and looked at the Zamka — once the palace of the 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


67 


Polish kings, then a chamber of deputies, and now 
a barrack and the residence of the governor, closely 
guarded by soldiers. 

‘ Oh dear, how I wish we were returning to Eng- 
land instead of going from it!’ exclaimed Miss 
Hamilton as they crossed the splendid iron bridge 
into an uninviting quarter of the city through which 
they had to pass to get to the station. 

‘There is something Oriental about these people,’ 
observed Miss Hamilton, as she surveyed the crowd 
on the station platform. 

‘I think they look just like the English people,’ 
said Nina. 

‘ Oh miss, English people don’t look so sulky, unless 
they ’ve been put out ! ’ objected Anna, who was not at 
all favourably impressed by Russian peasants so far. 

‘ Three out of four at the least of these people are 
Polish Jews,’ explained Mr Vicars, as he returned with 
their tickets and ‘ seat cards ; ’ ‘but you will see quite a 
different type at Moscow. — Well, Miss Hamilton, shall 
I take a greeting to England when I return next 
week ? ’ he said mischievously to Nina, as he saw 
them into their carriage. 

‘ I ’d rather you took me in your portmanteau,’ she 
replied. 

‘ I ’m afraid they would not pass you at the 
frontier,’ he said, laughing, as he took his leave. 


68 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


Miss Hamilton settled herself back upon the 
luxurious red velvet cushions of the compartment 
with a sigh of relief. ‘I never turned my back 
upon any place with such satisfaction as I do upon 
Yarsovie, as they call it, and I hope I may never 
set eyes upon it again.’ 

' Oh Aunt Penelope, don’t say that. How are we 
to get out of Russia again, then ? ’ said Nina. 

‘ We can go vid St Petersburg ; and even if we do 
pass through it, we need not get out of the train,’ 
replied her aunt. ^But what is the matter? Why 
do we not start — the whistle went some time ago, 
did it not ? ’ 

‘ Yes ; but they don’t seem to be in a hurry,’ replied 
Nina ; and going to the end of the carriage, she called 
out to Mr Vicars, who was politely standing upon the 
platform, to know what was the reason of the delay. 

‘ The first whistle has only gone yet,’ he explained. 

‘And pray how many do you have in Russia to 
start a train ? ’ 

‘Three, so that no one may be left behind by 
mistake.’ 

‘ Then I had better go and tell my aunt, for she 
thinks there is something wrong, and is most anxious 
to be out of Warsaw,’ observed Nina as she dis- 
appeared. 

‘Ridiculous!’ was Miss Hamilton’s comment on 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


69 


this piece of information, as she added crossly, 

‘ Pray do not stand in the doorway ; you stop what 
tiny breath of air there is from coming in.’ 

‘ Aunt Penelope, how on earth shall we stand two 
days and two nights in this stufiy place ? ’ inquired 
Nina, as, the third whistle having sounded and the 
last set of directions or farewells having been given, 
the train slowly, and as if reluctantly, crawled out 
of the station. 

Nina had put into words Miss Hamilton’s own 
thoughts, and she replied gloomily, ‘ I ’m sure I don’t 
know.’ 

Nina and the maid, being young, did not seem to 
suffer from the heat as much as Miss Hamilton, and 
as the train went very slowly and smoothly they 
began a game of draughts. 

Miss Hamilton looked sadly out of the window. 
‘It’s most extraordinary; I have not seen a single 
village yet ! Surely there must be some. I could not 
have conceived such a dreary, weary waste to exist — 
mile after mile of flat, uninhabited country, with 
nothing to enliven it ! ’ 

‘ Why, there is a forest. Aunt Penelope ! ’ expostu- 
lated Nina. 

‘I never heard a forest called an enlivening 
feature of a landscape ! ’ retorted her aunt, whom 
the monotonous landscape seemed to depress greatly. 


70 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


‘ Never mind, Aunt Pen ; the day after to-morrow 
we shall be in Moscow,' said Nina. 

‘ Not until the afternoon,’ said Miss Hamilton with 
a sigh. 

Luncheon took up some little time, and the 
luncheon-car being a large room with a door at each 
end, there seemed to be a little air; but at night, 
after ten o’clock, at which time the porter came to 
make their beds and the doors were shut, the heat 
became unbearable. Miss Hamilton would not let 
Anna travel alone, so she shared their carriage, 
which they had to themselves, the fourth place (the 
compartment, as has been said, only being allowed to 
hold four) not having been filled at Warsaw. 

Nina tossed and turned on her long bench; but 
poor Miss Hamilton was really ill. At last, none of 
them being able to sleep, Nina said in a whisper to 
Anna, ‘ Anna, have you a sharp hair-pin ? ’ 

‘I dare say. Miss Ernestina. What do you want 
it for?’ 

‘Give it to me,’ was Nina’s reply. 

The maid did so, and heard Nina scraping something 
with it. 

‘ Miss Ernestina, whatever are you doing ? ’ she 
asked under her breath. 

‘Trying to scrape olf this stuff they have sealed 
up the window with,’ replied Nina. 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


71 


* And can you ? ' inquired Anna eagerly. 

‘ Yes. Ifc ’s hard work ; but if you do that side, I 
believe we could get it off in an hour or so.’ 

Anna set to work with a will, and proved as 
successful as Nina. ‘ Do you know what this reminds 
me of, miss ? ’ she demanded. 

‘ No,’ said Nina ; * I can’t remember being in such 
a plight in my life.’ 

‘ Nor I, miss. I was thinking of the story of Jack 
Sheppard and how he got out of Newgate prison. I 
feel as if I was in a prison, somehow, in this country.’ 

‘Well, we sha’n’t feel like that very long, for I 
am nearly through my side ; and won’t Aunt Penelope 
be glad !’ observed Nina. 

After about an hour they did succeed in scraping 
off the cement, and tried to open the inside window. 
But this was not so easy, and they tugged and pulled 
to no effect. 

At last Nina made a suggestion. ‘You pull, Anna, 
and I will climb up the ladder and just hang myself 
from the little brass knob at the top as one does 
from a trapeze.’ 

‘ Very well, miss ; but mind you don’t fall,’ replied 
Anna, doing as she was told. 

Nina then mounted the little ladder, and pushing it 
away, hung, as she had said, with all her weight from 
the brass knob. The plan succeeded only too well ; 


72 NOTHING BUT SNOW. 

down came the inside window with a rush and Nina 
with it, and her fingers were caught in the ledge, and 
she herself fell upon Anna, who promptly screamed. 

The noise roused Miss Hamilton, who had been in 
a half-fainting state. ‘ What is the matter ? ’ she asked 
anxiously. 

‘ Not much. I have just hurt my finger,’ said Nina 
bravely, though her finger bore the mark of her love 
of fresh air for many a long week. 

However, they were rewarded by the cry of joy 
that poor Miss Hamilton uttered when she felt the 
fresh night-air blowing upon her face. 

‘ But, Nina, what have you done ? Don’t you know 
that it is forbidden to open the window till May ? ’ 

‘ Oh, well, they shouldn’t make such silly rules,’ said 
Nina airily, though she felt a little uncomfortable. 
After her Warsaw experience she did not feel quite 
so free to do what she liked. 

The next morning accordingly they thought it wise 
to tell the porter and offer him money to repair the 
cement. 

‘ He doesn’t understand,’ Miss Hamilton declared to 
Nina, who was trying to explain to the man by signs. 

‘ Anyway, he has taken the money,’ Nina replied ; 
and so he had, and as nothing more was said they 
presumed that he had squared matters. 

The fact was, as they afterwards found, that he 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


73 


had imagined that he was being bribed to keep the 
matter quiet, and loyally did so. 

And so the train crawled on, stopping at every 
little, insignificant station it came to, so it seemed to 
the weary travellers. 

‘Miss, I could walk as fast as this train, I do 
believe,' said Anna. 

‘You couldn’t, Anna, for they go twenty miles an 
hour, and that is express time in Russia. — But do you 
know, Aunt Penelope, I understand Napoleon being 
vanquished and losing half his army crossing this 
dreary plain in Arctic weather like this.’ 

‘It is cold. I hardly think it wise of you and 
Anna to get out at every station as you do to walk 
up and down the snowy platform; you have the 
window open now and then in here.’ 

‘All the other passengers do, and we stamp with 
our feet and stretch out our limbs,’ said Nina. ‘Be- 
sides, I like to see the different types of people ; I ’m 
learning a lot.’ 

‘I see but one type — Mongol, and they all look 
alike to me — flat-faced, dull, uninteresting creatures,’ 
said Miss Hamilton. 

‘ Our conductor has very keen eyes. I wonder if 
he ever smiled in his life. Oh, I do wish I could 
speak Russian ! I would ask him.’ 

‘ In that case, it is perhaps just as well that you 


74 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


cannot/ said Miss Hamilton. — ‘ But what do they want 
now, Nina?’ she asked plaintively, for the two men 
who came to look at their tickets (‘ It always takes 
two men to do the work of one,’ Nina thought) were 
demanding something of them apparently. 

One of them at last went off, and, having found 
some one who could speak German, came back with 
him; and fortunately Nina, after, it must be owned, 
a good deal of trouble, discovered that they were 
nearing Moscow. 

Great was their joy, and they hastened to pack 
up and gather stray packages together, and in another 
hour they saw some low, snow- covered houses and 
cupolas of churches, and — they had arrived at Mos- 
cow ; and there on the platform was Mr Hamilton, 
his anxious expression giving place to one of relief 
and pleasure when he saw the three safe and sound. 

‘Here you are, safe, thank goodness ! ’ he exclaimed. 
‘ No more going out alone for you. Miss Nina ; you 
forget you are not in England ! ’ 

‘Why, how do you know anything about that?’ 
cried Miss Hamilton in surprise. ‘I never told Mr 
Vicars to say anything about it; it w£is most im- 
pertinent of him ! ’ 

‘ Don’t blame Mr Vicars, whoever he is, for I owe 
my knowledge to the police of Warsaw, who in- 
formed the authorities here of your doings. — So you 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 75 

see, Nina, that you will not be able to deceive me,’ 
he said jokingly. 

‘ I call it most officious of the police,’ was all Nina 
would say. 

‘Well, well, after all, it is not a subject for joking, 
and we will say no more about it,’ said Mr Hamilton. 

‘ A matter for joking ? I should think not indeed ! 
I call it a most disreputable occurrence!’ cried his 
sister. 

‘Not in Russia, my dear Penelope; it was just a 
misunderstanding. You yourself might be questioned 
in the street.’ 

‘Much good that would be, seeing that I do not 
know a word of their dreadful language,’ retorted 
Miss Hamilton. 

By this time the luggage had been collected and 
sent off in a sledge to the hotel, and they followed in 
another sledge. 

‘The streets are exceptionally full and the town 
gay for Christmas,’ said Mr Hamilton as they drove 
along the crowded streets in the sledge, Nina and 
Anna exclaiming excitedly at the wonderful colours 
of the churches and different buildings. 

‘ Dear me ! are Christmas festivities not over yet ? ’ 
said Miss Hamilton indolently, too weary to admire 
the golden cupolas of Moscow’s cathedral, and the 
broad boulevard along which they were driving. 


76 


NOTHING BUT SNOW. 


‘ Hardly, seeing that it is Christmas Eve,’ replied 
her brother. 

‘ Why, of course ; I had forgotten that. Oh, well, 
I shall take no notice of that. I have had my 
Christmas and given all my presents.’ 

‘You must at least go to a Christmas party and 
Christmas-tree that Madame Poltiskoff has invited 
us all to (where Nina will meet her first Moscow 
schoolfellow, by the way) ; though I agree about the 
presents. However, if you go to the English church 
to-morrow you will find the English colony keeping 
Christmas in right royal English style, with holly 
and mistletoe.’ 

‘ You don’t mean it ? I knew the Russians did, 
but I am surprised at the English,’ observed Miss 
Hamilton in a tone of strong disapproval. 

‘ “ When you go to Rome, do as Rome does,” ’ quoted 
her brother. ‘ I shall be much surprised if you do 
not find it more convenient than being a fortnight 
in advance of everybody else.’ 

The sledge drew up in front of a large hotel, and a 
number of obsequious servants ran forward to help 
the travellers to alight. 


CHAPTER VII. 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 

I T seemed to Nina that she had just gone to bed 
when she was wakened up by the sound of 
church bells — a good many of them. She started, 
rubbed her eyes, and, seeing that it was still dark, 
turned on the little electric light above her head 
and looked at her watch. 

‘ Three o’clock ! ’ she exclaimed in surprise. ‘ What 
in the world are the bells ringing for at this hour ? ’ 
And then she remembered that she was in Moscow, 
which accounted for the strange clang of the bells, 
and no doubt also for the early hour at which they 
rang. 

Nina tried to distinguish one bell from another, 
and even one church from another, but failed. 
Another thing struck her as odd, and that was that 
it did not feel like a winter morning, for she felt so 
nice and warm. 

By-and-by, however, she was so tired that she 
dozed off again, dreamt of bells, and only wakened 
when Anna came in to tell her it was eight o’clock. 
‘And here’s a cup of tea, miss, made in a Russian 
samovar, and that’s just an English urn, for all I 


78 A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 

can see, only it smells horrid of the stuff they burn 
in the middle of it.* 

‘ This tea smells all right/ replied Nina. ' But you 
have forgotten to wish me a merry Christmas. A 
merry one to you.* 

Here Anna dismayed Nina by bursting out crying. 
* Oh miss ! don’t you go wishing me any such mockery 
— not to say it ’s not Christmas Day in any Christian 
land.* 

Nina thought it better to laugh than to sympathise 
with the maid, so she said, 'Not a Christian land, 
indeed, with church bells ringing from three o’clock 
this morning ! ’ 

'Oh my, miss, I should think they were! Not a 
wink of sleep have I had since they began. Do you 
think they go on like that every day ? * 

' I don’t suppose so ; this is Christmas Day. Now, 
please, don’t begin again, Anna ; just think what a lot 
you will have to write to Nana, and how you will 
puzzle her by dating your letter Christmas Day.* 

' I don’t think I ’d better do that, miss, or she ’ll 
think I ’m going silly, and be upset.’ 

'She can’t think we are all "going silly/* and I 
shall tell her we went to a Christmas-tree and to 
the Christmas service at the English church/ Nina 
announced. ' And I call it rather ripping to get in 
for two Christmases 1 * 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


79 


Anna sighed. ‘They have been wishing me a 
merry Christmas and shaking hands ever since I Ve 
been up, and I can only look a silly and not answer." 

‘ How do you know what they have been saying ? " 
demanded Nina. 

‘I don’t know, but I can guess, for they seem 
pleased, and all say the same thing.’ 

Nina also guessed that the porters at the hotel 
door were also wishing her the same thing as she, 
with her father and aunt and Anna, went oif to the 
English church. 

‘ Dear me ! ’ exclaimed Mr Hamilton, glancing down 
at his sister’s feet, ‘ we must take a sledge ; you have 
no galoshes on.’ 

‘ Oh, but we would rather walk, especially as it is 
so near,’ objected Miss Hamilton. 

‘ You can’t do that in Moscow ; it is not etiquette,’ 
said Mr Hamilton very decidedly. 

Miss Hamilton did not believe he could be in 
earnest, and saying, ‘ Nonsense ! ’ was preparing, as she 
had said, to walk ; but Mr Hamilton prevented her. 

‘ Come back, Penelope. I tell you, you must not 
go out in Moscow without either snow-boots or 
galoshes ; or if you do, you must not attempt to enter 
any building, for people object to snow-covered boots 
in their heated rooms, where you will leave a pool, or 
on their polished stairs, where you will leave a stain.’ 


80 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


‘ But I never wear galoshes ! I do not believe I 
could walk in them ! ’ gasped his sister. 

However, she entered a sledge as desired. Nina 
and Anna followed in another. ‘ Miss,* observed the 
latter, ‘ whatever would they do if they were stout ? 
They’d never get more than one in these carriages. 
And aren’t we low? Well, there’s one blessing — we 
should not fall far.’ 

‘ Which is just as well, for we certainly shall fall if 
our coachman does that,’ said Nina as they turned a 
corner, and, a church being at the corner with a sacred 
picture, or Icon, as the Russians call it, the driver 
promptly took off his fur turban, tucked it under 
his arm, and began crossing himself rapidly several 
times. His attention being thus diverted, and his 
two arms more or less occupied, his horse did what 
it liked, which was to make for the pavement. 

‘ Oh miss, do tell him not to do that — oh, I forgot, 
we can’t. I do hope you will soon learn Russian, 
Miss Ernestina; we shall never get on without. 
0-o-oh ! ’ Anna wound up. 

‘ What is the matter, Anna ? You must not be so 
noisy. There ’s no danger now ; we have only stopped 
because there is a block in the traffic. The people in 
that sledge are looking at you and laughing.’ 

‘ You ’d call out too, miss, if a horse was taking off 
your back-hair ! ’ cried Anna. 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


81 


Nina turned in astonishment, and found that the 
horse of the sledge behind them was indeed trying 
to bite Anna’s fair hair. It was no good — Nina 
could not help it, and laughed aloud, which in its 
turn drew attention to her, for the Russians are a 
dignified race in public; and, indeed, always, except 
when much excited. 

* He thinks it is straw, Anna,’ she said, laughing. 

But Anna was much displeased. ‘ A nice state my 
hair will be in to go to church ! I call it silly to 
build the carriages so low.’ And then she clutched 
Nina’s arm again, for their driver — a most devout 
man — was again at his devotions. 

At first Nina was inclined to scoff*, and then she re- 
membered Miss Poole’s wise advice about not judging 
other people, and trying to see the good and beauty 
in the beliefs of others ; so she replied to Anna’s severe 
remarks about silly idolatry by saying, ‘It is not 
idolatry ; the Russians won’t make any graven image 
for fear of going against the command in the Bible ; 
and it is very beautiful to pray like that.’ 

‘ We sha’n’t find it very beautiful to be pitched out 
while he ’s praying ! ’ said Anna, untouched. 

Now they arrived at the little English church with 
its Gothic spire, and entered as the choir was singing 
the opening hymn, ‘ Hark ! the Herald Angels sing,’ 
which completely unsettled Anna’s calendar. 

S.M. F 


82 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


Nina looked round for possible friends, but saw 
no one whom she could ' chum ' with, and somehow, 
as it happened, she saw very little of the English 
colony. 

And then Christmas greetings having been ex- 
changed with some acquaintances of Mr Hamilton, 
they drove home again, Nina turning from side to 
side, trying to see both sides of the road at once, 
as she explained, for all was so strange. 

‘I shall sit down and write a long letter to Miss 
Poole about Moscow,’ she announced, to her father’s 
amusement. 

‘ Why, you have not been here twenty-four hours ! ’ 
he exclaimed. ‘ You will be like the Englishman who 
went to the South Sea Islands to write a book upon 
them, and all he put in his diary was : “ Manners none ; 
habits nasty.” ’ 

‘Oh no, I sha’n’t!’ exclaimed Nina. ‘I like the 
manners of the Russians, all bowing so politely ; and 
I think their habit of having a fair at Christmas- 
time, and asking strangers to come to a party at 
once, without stopping to see if they are nice, very 
hospitable.’ 

‘I think it a very late hour to have dinner,’ 
observed Miss Hamilton when she had grasped that 
it was to be at ten o’clock. 

‘That’s nothing, Penelope; you will have to get 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


83 


used to midnight suppers/ replied her brother, chaffing 
her. 

‘ Indeed I shall do no such thing ! ’ she retorted. 

Nina meanwhile was so excited that Anna lost 
patience with her when she was dressing her young 
mistress. 

‘As if you had not been to a Christmas-tree 
before, when you had one last week yourself, miss; 
and of course a Russian Christmas-tree won’t com- 
pare to the one master gave to us all before we 
left home.’ 

‘ I don’t care twopence about the Christmas-tree ! 
I am only thinking of seeing the first Russian school- 
girl I have ever seen,’ explained Nina. 

‘Oh, it’s that, is it? Well, miss, she won’t be 
much to look at, for I haven’t seen a good-looking 
person since I ’ve left England.’ 

Nina laughed. ‘You must be hard to please if 
you could not see any beauties in Berlin or Paris ; but 
I agree with you about Russia up to now. But I am 
going to try and see beauty in them, anyhow,’ she 
added, remembering Miss Poole’s advice. 

And then the four (for Anna had been asked to join 
the servants) started in the hotel sledge, which drove 
them up to the wide portals of a brilliantly illumi- 
nated house, the doors of which flew open, and 
from which two porters emerged to help them to 


84 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


descend from the sledge, and they went in from the 
biting cold to the overheated hall, the walls of which 
were hung with enough furs to stock a furrier’s, and 
along the side of the floor of which rows of fur-topped 
snow-boots stood. 

‘ You see every one has outdoor footgear, and leaves 
it in the hall,’ Mr Hamilton pointed out to them as 
they went up the broad stairs and into a large room, 
at the door of which stood their hostess waiting to 
welcome them, with her husband and children near 
her. 

They all came up and shook hands before Mr 
Hamilton could introduce his sister and daughter, this 
being Russian etiquette, and the girls made a village 
maiden’s bob, while the boys bowed low over their 
hands. 

Nina shook hands eagerly with a girl of her own 
age, who smiled at her, and said in very good English, 
‘ How are you ? I am pleased to make your acquaint- 
ance. My name is Nathalia.’ 

‘ Ah ha ! that sounds very fine ; but I must tell you, 
Ernestina, that she has now said all she knows in 
English, and she has spent the last two hours in learn- 
ing it,’ interposed Nathalia’s mother. 

‘ Oh, thank you ; that was very kind of you,’ replied 
Nina. 

But here they all laughed, and Nathalia shook her 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


85 


head to show that she did not understand Nina’s 
remark. 

‘She is thanking you, Nathalia Arthurovna,’ ex- 
plained Mr Hamilton in Russian. 

‘And this is your sister, James Ivanovitch?’ in- 
quired the lady. 

‘ Yes, Zina Ivanovna ; allow me to present to you 
my sister, Penelope Ivanovna,’ replied Mr Hamilton. 

‘I am charmed to welcome you to Moscow, and 
think it most kind of you to come to us your first 
day, Penelope Ivanovna,’ replied their hostess, holding 
out her hand a second time in welcome. 

Miss Hamilton’s face as she heard herself thus 
called by her Christian name by an utter stranger, 
who seemed to be on the same familiar terms with 
her brother, was a study, for she was very slow to 
make advances herself. However, she responded 
politely, and fortunately further familiarities were 
prevented by their adjournment to another salon to 
see the tree. 

Even Miss Hamilton gasped with wonder; never 
having seen a Christmas-tree out of England, she had 
not seen one all glittering silver before, nor such 
illuminations. Nina was pleased to see that Anna was 
under the charge of Nathalia’s French gonvernante, a 
nursery governess, who spoke English. Then they all 
had presents, Nathalia keeping close to Nina, and look- 


86 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


ing anxiously to see if she liked her present — a work- 
box carved and painted by Russian peasants, as she 
explained in French very slowly, so that Nina could 
understand. Mr Hamilton had the satisfaction of 
hearing Nina answer in halting French, and of seeing 
her looking perfectly happy with three Russian girls 
round her, talking in bad French and laughing, and 
joining in the Russian dances which followed, as 
merrily as if she had lived in Russia all her life. 

And then at ten o’clock they went in to dinner, a 
regular family dinner of — how many courses ? Nina 
tried to remember, so as to tell Miss Poole and her 
special chums at the High School, to each of whom she 
meant to write a full account; but she could not think 
of them all. 

‘ You may put down about twelve. Miss Ernestina, 
without exaggeration,’ observed Anna afterwards when 
Nina appealed to her, ‘ for I am sure I saw that number 
sent in, and you were long enough at dinner to have 
eaten twenty courses.’ 

But Nina did not find it as long as might have been 
expected, for she was having each dish explained to 
her in French (which, to be sure, she could not always 
understand) by Nathalia, her future schoolfellow, and 
was being tempted just to taste one after another 
because it was quite Russian. 

Miss Hamilton looked anxiously her way once or 


A EUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY. 


87 


twice, but she was so bright and happy that her aunt 
had not the heart to say anything, though she fully 
expected to have her niece ill the next day. 

But the evening was not ended yet. Near midnight 
— that is to say, about half-an-hour after dinner, the 
samovar, or urn, was brought in, and tea — pale tea 
with lemon floating on the top — was handed round. 

Miss Hamilton manfully drank a cup, and so did 
Nina, though she explained to Nathalia that she had 
* jamais mange cela avant ! ’ 

‘We drink five, six, seven cups every evening,’ said 
their hostess. ^ We, you see, are also like you English 
in that.’ 

Miss Hamilton did not say that the English would 
never dream of starting tea-drinking at that hour, 
nor drink such weak stuff*. But going home, towards 
2 A.M., she observed to her brother, ‘I trust, James, 
that this is an exceptional evening ? Many such would 
play havoc with my nerves, and be most injurious to 
Nina.’ 

‘Oh, of course, Nina will not go to late parties; but 
Moscow hours are late. However, you can refuse if 
you do not wish to go. But did you not like our 
hostess and her husband and family ? ’ 

‘Ye-s,’ admitted Miss Hamilton; ‘but I did not 
know you were on such terms of intimacy as to call 
her by her Christian name.’ 


88 


A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARXy. 


Mr Hamilton laughed heartily. ‘ So that stuck in 
your throat ? I dared not look at you when I called 
you Penelope Ivanovna ; I would have warned you if 
I had expected to do so. In Russia everybody calls 
everybody by his or her Christian name ; the servants 
talk of their mistress, when they don’t say barinia^ 
as Zina Ivanovna — that means Zina John, or Ivan’s 
daughter; just as they would call you Penelope 
Ivanovna, your father’s name being John.’ 

‘ I shall see that they do no such thing ! ’ exclaimed 
Miss Hamilton. 

‘ Well, as Zina Ivanovna is a noble, I think what is 
good enough for Russian nobles is good enough for 
plain Mr and Miss Hamilton; but I see you don’t 
understand Russian ways yet. — What do you think of 
Russians, Nina ? ’ 

‘Oh father, they’re just delightful; and I never 
enjoyed a party more, and Nathalia is a ripping girl !’ 


CHAPTER VIIL 


NATHALIA. 

‘ IVT ATHALIA is coming to see me to-day and tell 

X ^ me all about school/ announced Nina the 
next morning at breakfast, which, while they were in 
the hotel, they had English fashion. 

‘ I should have thought she had told you all there 
was to tell last night. I am sure you and she 
chattered enough to have told and heard all there 
could possibly be to tell about a girls’ school.’ 

‘Not about a girls’ school in Moscow/ began Nina. 

‘ Girls’ schools are much of a muchness ; as, for the 
matter of that, are girls,’ said Mr Hamilton. 

‘ Oh papa, that shows how much you know about 
girls. Nathalia is quite different from me. And, 
besides, she was not talking about the school at all ; 
she was telling me about that fair we passed through 
on Christmas Eve, and what those animals were. 
They are not stuffed at all ; they are frozen — I mean, 
the hares, and deer, and tiny pigs, and things.’ 

‘ What are you talking about, Nina ? Do you 
mean that our food is not fresh, then ? ’ inquired 
Miss Hamilton, who connected frozen hares with 
imported frozen meat from New Zealand. 


90 


NATH A LI A. 


‘I don’t know. I am speaking about those stalls 
in the fair in that big square we passed through on 
our way from the station, where we saw what looked 
like a menagerie of animals, as Anna said. There 
were flocks of geese and ducks, and they did look so 
funny ; but that was the Christmas market. And of 
course the people are hungry, because they had fasted 
for twenty-four hours, without eating a morsel of 
food, or drinking a drop of water even, till “ the flrst 
star appears on Christmas Eve,” and then the pope — 
that ’s the slommicky-looking man we saw in a kind 
of high turban and black robe, he is a Russian 
priest — comes to hold a little setV^ in their house, 
and after that they go to the n^dnight service. I 
wish I had been here to drive through Moscow by 
moonlight.’ 

' Nina seems to be determined to become altogether 
Russian,’ laughed her father. ‘ She has taken to them 
more than you have, Penelope.’ 

‘I have come here for two years, and I mean to 
make the best of it,’ was Miss Hamilton’s reply ; " but 
as to enjoying houses like ovens, which make the out- 
side air feel like the North Pole, and having all one’s 
habits upset and one’s hours suddenly changed at my 
age, that I do not pretend to appreciate.’ 

‘ When we get into our own house you can have 
the windows unsealed, and you shall not go to any 


NATHALIA. 


91 


more Russian dinners unless you like/ said Mr 
Hamilton soothingly. 

‘If I do I shall be seriously ill/ she observed 
grimly. 

‘ Oh papa, mayn’t I go sometimes ? It was lovely 
last night, and I never was at such a splendid dinner ! ’ 
cried Nina. 

‘Upon my word, Nina, you astonish me. I never 
thought you were greedy. If about twenty courses 
are your ideal of a dinner, it is a pity you were not 
born a Russian ! ’ exclaimed Miss Hamilton. 

Just as she said this the servant — who, as is the 
custom in Russia, very often walked into their private 
sitting-room without knocking — announced some 
one. As he spoke in Russian, neither Miss Hamilton 
nor Nina knew what he was saying, until Mr 
Hamilton, rising from his seat, said, ‘ It is Nathalia 
Arthurovna/ 

‘Oh Nathalia/ cried Nina, delighted, ‘I am so 
pleased to see you ! ’ 

Nathalia replied, in French of course, ‘ I have come 
to fetch Nina, with your permission, to drive in our 
sledge. My French gouvernante is here, and will 
follow in another sledge, if you permit, with your 
gouvernante Anna. I very much wish to watch the 
delight of Nina when she sees the Kremlin for the 
first time.’ 


92 


NATH A LI A. 


‘ Oh papa and Aunt Pen, you will let me go, won’t 
you ? ’ cried Nina. 

‘ Is it safe and the proper thing for those two girls 
to drive about Moscow alone ? ’ inquired Miss Hamilton 
of her brother rather anxiously. 

‘Oh dear, yes. This is not France. Girls are as 
free as in England — even freer; and, besides, the 
maids — gouvernantes — will be within hail. Let her 
go, Penelope ; it will do her good to have some fresh 
air, and we can go and look at that flat (or “ apart- 
ment,” as they call it) that I think will do for us.’ 

So Nina, well wrapped up, went off. 

‘ Why are you looking at me so curiously ? ’ was 
her eager question of her companion as they drove 
off’ assisted out of the hotel by about half-a-dozen 
domestics, not to mention Mr Hamilton. 

‘ I did not know I was so rude as to stare at you ; 
but it was — well, you may not like it if I say why I 
looked at you,’ replied Nathalia. 

‘ Oh yes, I shall. I want to know. Is there any- 
thing wrong with me ? ’ 

‘ Not at all. It was your coat, for one thing. You 
wear the fur outside instead of inside as we do, so 
that it may keep us warm; but that is, of course, 
because you do not have such cold winters in England. 
And the other thing was — but it is a personal remark, 
which mademoiselle says is most impolite ; however, 


NATHALIA. 


93 


as you wish to know, I will tell you — the other thing 
I was looking at was your nice rosy cheeks ; we are 
all pale here, especially in winter.’ 

‘ That is because you live in such ’ — Nina was going 
to say ‘stuffy,’ hut substituted ‘hot’ — ‘rooms. My 
aunt cannot bear it. When we get into our own 
house, we are going to open the windows.’ 

‘ Open the windows in winter ! You will die of 
cold. James Ivanovitch must not let her!’ cried 
Nathalia. ‘She does not know what our climate 
is like 1 ’ 

Nina was determined not to be prejudiced; but it 
must be confessed that to hear this child call her 
father James, even though Ivanovitch was tacked on, 
did give her a shock, and she did not like to be 
dictated to about the windows. 

Nathalia saw at once that there was something 
wrong, and in her turn begged to be enlightened as 
to what she had said to vex her friend. 

‘ It is just that our customs are different in 
England. We do not call strangers or any grown-up 
people by their Christian name unless they are 
servants.’ 

Nathalia understood at once. ‘I see; and I re- 
member now that mademoiselle said one called gentle- 
men “monsieur” in French. But we always speak 
of Jam — I mean monsieur, your father, in Russian, 


94 


NATHALIA. 


by his name, as is polite, and it is, only servants or 
peasants who say harin or barinia (monsieur or 
madame with us) ; but I will remember, and I will 
tell mamma, for she said she saw that your aunt 
never called her Zina Ivanovna. But now, don’t look 
in front until I tell you you may. Look at the river 
Moskwa, and at this boulevard that we are driving 
along. Is it not wide ? It is larger than any in Paris 
even, and in summer those gardens are so pretty. 
Take care ! Now you may look before you ! ’ 

The last two remarks were made as, having driven 
along the wide boulevard which skirts the river, the 
sledge turned abruptly to the right, and at break -neck 
speed dashed up a slight incline, and Nina saw the 
Kremlin, that wonderful fortress, before her. 

Nathalia turned and looked at her companion. The 
sun was shining full upon the cupolas of the churches 
and convents and the towers of the battlemented 
walls of the great fortress, if such it may be called, 
and the white snow threw up and gave relief to the 
barbaric colours of the turrets, and shone too on the 
gilded memorial to Alexander III. which has lately 
been erected in the grounds. 

Nina gasped. 

The Russian girl waited in silence for her to speak ; 
but she seemed satisfied with the effect of her little 
surprise on her English friend, 


NATHALIA. 


95 


'Nathalia/ said Nina solemnly, as she half-turned 
in the sledge and looked with shining eyes at her 
friend, * I shall never forget this minute ! I never 
saw anything like this before. It is wonderful ! ’ 

‘ I knew you would like it,’ said Nathalia ; and she 
gave some order to the old family coachman, who 
drove slowly through the Kremlin, passing by its six 
churches and two monasteries, and the Court of 
Justice, till at one spot he crossed himself; and 
Nathalia said ki a low voice to Nina, ‘That little 
enclosure with a cross marks the place where the 
Grand Duke Sergius was blown up when he was 
driving through the streets of the Kremlin in his 
carriage; and now we are coming to the holy gate 
— the Spasski Gate — where all men must uncover 
whether it is cold or not, and whether they are 
Russians or foreigners. That is the gate out of which 
Napoleon went when he left Moscow defeated.’ 

‘Poor Napoleon! I mean, of course, he had no 
business here,’ added Nina hastily, and laughed, 
feeling like Alice in Wonderland when she had asked 
the mouse where her cat was. ‘I don’t wonder he 
was defeated in such a climate 1 ’ 

‘ It was our patriotism in firing the town, our 
beautiful white mother Moscow, that caused him to 
retreat,’ said Nathalia; and it was perhaps as well 
that they happened to pass the school to which Nina 


96 


NATHALIA. 


was going and at which Nathalia was a pupil, so that 
the conversation took another turn. She pointed it 
out to Nina. 

‘We shall both be in there this time next week,* 
said Nathalia. ‘ I wonder how you will like it.* 

‘Are there many girls ? ’ inquired Nina. 

‘Nearly six hundred this year, and they are divided 
into eight classes. I wonder which class they will 
place you in. It would be lovely if you were in 
my class.’ « 

‘How can I be, when I do not know a word of 
Eussian — at least, more than one word ? I do know 
one, for I learnt “ yes ” in Russian is da! 

Nathalia laughed. ‘ That is an easy word. Now 
I will teach you another very useful word, and that is 
pojaluista, which means “ please.” * 

‘ I did not quite catch it,* said Nina, and repeated 
'pog' 

Nathalia said it again, and it sounded like ‘pajowl- 
sta ; ’ and so Nina for the future always pronounced it, 
and as people understood her, she supposed it was 
nearly right. 

‘ But, by the way,’ said Nathalia, ‘ my mother told 
me to ask you if you had bought your school uni- 
form yet, because if not she will come and help Miss 
Hamilton to go and order it — that is, if mademoiselle 
your aunt would wish it ? ’ 


NATHALIA. 


97 


' I am sure Aunt Pen has not bought it, for I did 
not know till this minute that you wore a uniform 
in this school. I know they do in the poor school in 
Moscow, for a sister of the maid who cleans our room 
came to the hotel this morning, and Anna told me she 
was at a national school, and she was in a brown 
dress. What colour is our uniform ? ' 

‘ The same as that little girl’s,’ replied Nathalia. 

Nina thought she had not understood. ‘ I don’t 
think it can be the same school as ours, for this was 
quite a poor little girl.’ 

‘ No, no, you are right ; she goes no doubt to 
the national school, but all schoolgirls wear the 
same coloured dress, except, of course, the Institute 
girls.* 

Nina did not understand the slight accent of con- 
tempt in Nathalia’s voice as she said ‘ Institute girls.’ 
She learnt the reason afterwards. So she only asked, 
‘Do you mean that all schoolgirls in Moscow, rich 
and poor, wear the same uniform ? ’ She could not 
believe it. 

‘ Yes, all — nobles and peasants, whatever school they 
attend,’ said Nathalia, mentioning the only two classes 
supposed to exist in Eussia. 

‘ Fancy ! ’ was all Nina said ; but she was surprised, 
and not quite sure that she appreciated being dressed 
like the chambermaid’s little sister. However, she 
G 


S.M. 


98 


NATHALIA. 


had the good taste to say nothing, and thanked 
Nathalia very heartily for the delightful drive they 
had had. 

Anna had enjoyed herself quite as much, and was 
rather important at having been driving about in a 
sledge with a French gouvernante. 

‘And, oh miss, did you see the place where they 
blew up the grand duke and his poor coachman ? ’ she 
inquired of Nina when she was doing Nina’s hair 
that evening. 

‘I did not hear about the coachman. Was he 
killed too ? ’ 

‘ There, they don’t think of that ! Ma’m’selle told 
me they were so busy seeing to the duke — who was 
dead, and didn’t matter — that they never thought of 
this poor peasant ; and he crawled to those steps close 
by, and no one attended to his wounds, and so he died. 
But that ’s the way in this coun ’ 

‘Sh! sh, Anna! You know papa said we were 
never to criticise anything the Russians did in that 
way,’ expostulated Nina. 

‘ Well, perhaps it ’s as well not,’ agreed Anna, ‘ and I 
am enjoying being here more than I expected, I must 
say ; you do eat such a lot 1 Oh, well, miss, I did not 
mean that ; but it is nice to sit down to a meal and have 
about a dozen dishes to choose from, instead of ever- 
lasting beef and mutton as we have in England. Not 


NATHALIA. 


99 


that we don’t live well in your servants’ hall ; and I 
don’t eat more here of course, but it ’s interesting, and 
I had reindeer’s tongue to-day, miss, and it wasn’t 
half bad.’ 

Nina laughed. ‘I wonder what Nana would say 
to your taking so kindly to raw meat ? ’ she observed 

slyly- 

Anna looked surprised. ‘ Raw meat, miss ? I never 
had raw meat that I know of, and I am sure I should 
never eat it.’ 

‘ Oh yes, you had ; that tiny pig was raw that we 
had in cubes, only it was so highly seasoned that you 
did not know it ; and those very reindeer tongues were 
raw.’ 

‘ I ’ll never touch either of them again ! ’ said Anna 
with disgust. ‘That’s the worst of foreign parts — 
you don’t know what you are eating.’ 

‘ Well, I like them too, and I am going to eat raw 
things while I am in Russia ; only I do wish they did 
not eat so much,’ objected Nina. 

‘All savages do. Not that I mean to insult them, 
but people do say that savages eat more than civilised 
people.’ 

‘Anna, if you call the Russians savage after you 
have been so kindly treated by them, I shall not 
think much of you ! ’ 

‘I’m sure, miss, I never meant any insult; but 


100 


NATHALIA. 


you don’t think any country as civilised as Eng- 
land ? ’ 

‘Of course I do,’ said Nina crossly, for she was 
tired; ‘and so would you if you were not so pig- 
headed and narrow-minded ! ’ 

Anna, much affronted, finished her j^oung mistress’s 
toilette for the night in silence. 

‘ Good-night, Anna, and take my advice when you 
are in Moscow. Do as Moscow does, and eat raw pig ! ’ 
was Nina’s parting shot to Anna, who had recovered 
her temper, and laughed as she said ‘ Ugh ! ’ and 
departed. 


CHAPTER IX. 


A 'class-lady’ and a ball. 

N INA’S impressions of Russia in general, and of 
Moscow in particular, may be best gathered 
from two letters which she wrote at this time — one 
to her late head-mistress, and the other to her old 
nurse, in which she tells the various details that she 
imagines will interest each. 

Her letter to old Nana was rather freer in style — 
or, rather, slang — than that to her former mistress. 

The letter, which she wrote first, began : 

' Deaeest Nana, — We are only one thousand seven 
hundred miles from you, so, you see, it is not so far, 
after all ; and there is not so much difference between 
London and Moscow as I expected, except in appear- 
ance. I mean, there are trams and electric light and 
telephones in all the houses, and we have just been 
asked to a party this evening by telephone. Aunt 
Penelope says it will be the death of her if it goes on 
like this; but it won’t, for it is only because this 
week is the carnival week before the “Great Fast.” 0 
We are going to a ball to-night at the house of my 
new schoolfellow, Nathalia. I can’t remember her 
other name; it is one of those horrid jaw-breaking 


102 A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. 

% 

Russian names. You never hear their surnames, 
because they call each other by their Christian names, 
with their father’s name tacked on ; so I am Ernestina 
Jamesovna. And, what do you think ? — my friend said 
Anna ought to call her mother Nathalia Ivanovna. 
But Anna says she shall not take any such liberty, as 
she is sure Aunt Pen would discharge her if she heard 
her. I do wish you were here ; and yet perhaps it ’s 
just as well you aren’t, as you don’t like late hours, and 
every one sits up late here, and pays calls at ten o’clock 
at night. 

‘There are six hundred churches in Moscow (so 
they say), and I can believe it, for there is a church 
at every corner nearly. And the bells ! I never 
heard such a lot of bells ! Some are very loud, but 
some are very sweet, being made of silver. Anna 
went for a drive and saw the largest bell in the 
world ! It had a large crack in it, and now stood on 
the ground near the tower in the Kremlin in which it 
was to have hung. A dinner-party of twenty-six 
people took place in it once. And near it is the largest 
cannon in the world ; it is called the “ Czar of Can- 
nons.” I sent you post-cards of them both. I like 
the Russians most awfully ; they are always inviting 
you to their houses and giving you a meal. And 
you should see the tea they drink — fourteen cups at 
a time ; and tea costs six shillings a pound or more ! 


A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. 


103 


'Anna is going to write to you. She has been 
eating raw pig and fish, and liked them. Isn’t she 
a cannibal ? I am going to write to Miss Poole, so 
I must stop. Good-bye, dear Nana. Two weeks 
have gone quite quickly, so we shall soon be home 
again. — Your loving Nina.’ 

Anna’s letter was rather a contrast ; it ran : 

* Dear Aunt, — We arrived here safely, for a wonder, 
two days ago, in this outlandish place. It seems like 
years. You have to treat the Russian servants as 
your inferiors, and order them about like slaves, or 
else they don’t think anything of you. The man 
kneels to take off my galoshes in the hall, and you 
don’t say “Thank you” for it. Miss Ernestina has 
taken to these people, but I am not going to be in a 
hurry to make friends. I call them a surly lot ; they 
never smile hardly, and all their religion seems to 
be crossing themselves all day and bowing to every 
picture they see ; they even worship the Czar — awful 
idolatry, I call it. I am going out to a party to-night, 
so no more from your loving niece, Anna. 

^P.S . — The servants here call their masters and 
mistresses by their Christian names, and yet they ’re 
more polite than us, bowing low and all that.’ 

It should be explained that Anna’s remark about 


104 


A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. 


the Russians worshipping the Czar ‘was caused by 
the fact that the Russians, who have a great reverence 
for the Czar, bow to his picture; but to say they 
worship him or his picture is false of course. 

To Miss Poole, Nina wrote : 

‘ Dear Miss Poole, — We reached here after having 
only stopped at Paris and Warsaw. In Paris I just 
saw the picture-galleries and the park called the 
Bois de Boulogne. Then we traversed the great 
plain of Europe, and stopped at Warsaw, which was 
a great contrast to Paris. When I saw Warsaw, and 
the nice, superior-looking men who were being taken 
up as prisoners — they take you up for nothing 
there,’ Nina wrote, with feeling — ‘ I quite understood 
poor Thaddeus of Warsaw leaving his country in 
despair ; we saw the palace where his ancestors used 
to live, and I felt very sorry for him. But I don’t 
meddle in politics ’ [this was underlined]. ‘ We were 
glad when we got to Moscow, which is so quaint 
and Oriental-looking — full of queer churches with 
coloured minarets and cupolas, and, best of all, the 
Kremlin. Oh Miss Poole, I am glad I came to Moscow 
just to see that ; but I can’t possibly describe it, except 
to say that it is a huge fortress surrounded by high 
walls, with squares and roads and churches and 
things inside. One thing will surprise you, I think ; 


A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. 105 

all schoolgirls, noble and peasant — I meaD, girls going 
to the high-class schools and to the poor schools — 
dress the same, in chocolate-coloured dresses. Isn’t 
that funny ? So I am to have a dress exactly like 
our chambermaid’s little sister. Anna is rather 
shocked, and says it is a silly country ; but now that 
I am used to it, I like the idea. 

‘I simply could not tell you all I have seen if I 
was to write all day ; but I will write again and tell 
you what a girls’ school in Moscow is like. A general 
is at the head of the Gymnase that I am going to. 
I am sorry I ended that sentence with a preposition, 
because you told us not to do that. I have met such 
a nice girl. She is very like an English girl, only her 
hair is pulled back tightly instead of being puffed 
out a little ; and her eyes are blue, and her hair what 
Anna calls “tow-coloured.” I talk French with her ; 
but I have begun Kussian already, and have learnt 
half the alphabet, which is very perplexing. 

‘ I must stop now, and get ready for a carnival dance, 
as the Russian carnival takes place the week after 
Christmas. Please give my love to the girls, and tell 
them I shall always like an English High School 
best, though, I must say, I like Russian girls very 
much so far. — I remain always, your loving pupil, 
‘Ernestina Jamesovna 
(as the Russians would say) Hamilton.’ 


106 A * class-lady’ and a ball. 

And then Nina went off, singing, to get ready 
for the dance. As she had no fancy costume, 
she wore an ordinary evening-party dress, and 
the quartette set off ; for Anna was asked to the 
servants’ * court,’ as the servants’ quarters are called, 
and Miss Hamilton would not leave her at home 
alone. 

‘ There ’s one thing I do miss here, and that is my 
evening newspaper. It does seem so funny not to 
have any news from England until nearly a week 
late,’ said Mr Hamilton in a grumbling tone as they 
drove to their friends’ house. 

‘Yes; that must be a deprivation, considering 
the number of papers you used to buy every even- 
ing ; there are no special editions here,’ said his 
sister. 

‘No; and no newsboys screaming all the winners,’ 
observed Nina, laughing ; ‘ and a good thing, too. I 
used to hate to see those little wretches gloating 
over a “ ’orrible crime.” ’ 

‘ The streets are quiet enough at this minute, except 
for the bells of the sledges. Rather monotonous, don’t 
you think ? ’ said Mr Hamilton. 

‘ I don’t dislike that ; the silence is rather a relief 
after London street noises. What I do object to is 
being wakened up by the church bells,’ replied Miss 
Hamilton. 


A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. 


107 


Here they arrived at Nathalia’s house, and were 
soon in the ballroom, a large saloon, with a beautiful 
floor for dancing. 

‘ I have been looking forward to seeing you again,’ 
said Nathalia; ‘it seems such a long time since I 
saw you.’ 

‘ Why, it is only a day,’ responded Nina. 

‘It seemed long to me, because I wanted to tell 
you something important. My “class-lady” — classe 
dame — is here to-night, and I thought you would 
like to see my, and perhaps your, Russian school- 
mistress,’ said Nathalia. 

Nina looked interested at once. ‘Yes, I should. 
Where is she ? ’ and she looked round. 

‘ There, talking with that officer ; he is her cousin. 
That is our class-mistress, that tall, dark lady who is 
smiling.’ 

Nina looked, and saw a lady in evening-dress, not 
a fancy-dress ; but, then, her hostess and many others 
were in ordinary evening-dress. 

‘ What does she teach you ? ’ she inquired. 

‘Oh, she does not teach us anything — that is, 
unless the professor or teacher is away through ill- 
ness. She is our “ class-lady.” ’ 

‘ What do you mean ? ’ inquired Nina, puzzled. 

‘ Don’t you have a “ class-lady ” in English schools ? 
I mean, a lady who sits in your classroom during 


108 


A 'class-lady’ and a ball. 


lessons, and watches you while the other lady or 
gentleman teaches ? ’ 

Nina considered. ‘When a professor comes, the 
teacher of our form or class does sit there ; but we 
don’t always have one to surveiller* 

‘ Oh, we do always. We have one lady who begins 
the first year to teach the little ones of the youngest 
class, and moves up a class each year with her pupils 
till she gets to the top class the eighth year; and 
then she begins again, and another lady who sits and 
watches her teach, and if she is ill takes her place. 
Why, what do you do supposing a teacher is ill in 
England, if you have not two teachers for each 
class ? ’ 

‘ There is generally one teacher free in the school, 
or the head-mistress comes and takes us, or a big girl, 
or we are given preparation ; but I call that a waste. 
I mean, we are not rich enough to have two teachers 
for each class.’ Nor to have a general as well as a 
head-mistress, she might have added. 

Nathalia seemed surprised that the English Govern- 
ment did not help to support all schools, as the 
Russian Government does in Moscow. But no more 
school talk was indulged in, for they danced the rest 
of the evening. 

To-night supper was at one o’clock, an hour highly 
disapproved of by Miss Hamilton, who, however, 


A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. 


109 


was relieved at being called Miss Hamilton, and 
not Penelope. 

During supper some hired dancers made their 
appearance. 

‘Nina, will you call me Natasha? It is my pet 
name,’ said Nathalia, as the two sat at supper to- 
gether watching the dancers. 

‘Yes,’ agreed Nina, who, however, not being in the 
least sentimental, was more interested in the troupe 
just arrived than in swearing friendship with her 
new chum. ‘ But tell me, Natasha, is that right ? 
What are these people ? Are they Kussian peasants, 
and why are they dressed like that ? Is it their usual 
costume or fancy-dress ? ’ 

The dancers were dressed most gorgeously in bright, 
crude colours — the men in short jackets, knee-breeches, 
long boots, and sashes ; the girls in short skirts and 
jackets, with knee-boots of red, yellow, green, or 
bronze, and wearing bright-coloured handkerchiefs 
about their heads. They looked dull, uninteresting 
people until they began to dance. 

‘They are gipsies, and that is their usual dress. 
They generally are at the “Yar,” the restaurant in 
Petrovski Park, unless they are hired out. But you 
must watch them ; they will be more amusing in a 
minute.’ 

Nina did watch them, and was amazed to see how 


110 A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. 

the dancers grew more and more lively, and danced 
quicker and quicker, until the dance became a mad 
one, and the noise they made grew louder and louder, 
the excitement greater and greater, till it ended in a 
final, deafening crash. 

Nina gave a little gasp of relief, and then looked 
at her aunt, and the sight of her amazed and some- 
what scandalised countenance was almost too much 
for her gravity ; but fortunately she remembered her 
manners, and did not even smile. 

The dancers retired, and then the scene suddenly 
changed. The younger people had gone on dancing ; 
but Nathalia’s elder sister Olga, to whom Nina had 
taken a gjreat fancy, was standing near her, talking 
to the officer Nathalia had pointed out to Nina, 
and with them were a group of young men and girl 
students. 

Nina noticed that they were talking rather ex- 
citedly, and that Olga especially was arguing vehe- 
mently; and presently she saw her father looking 
rather uneasily in their direction. Then Mr Hamilton 
beckoned to Nina to come to him, and said hurriedly 
that it was time to go home. 

Just as he had done this the discussion waxed hot 
and loud; all the group round Olga seemed to be 
screaming one against the other, and In a moment 
Nathalia’s father came up, looking very stern and 


A ‘class-lady’ and a ball. Ill 

white, and said something to Olga in a severe tone, 
and with sulky looks the party dispersed about the 
room, the officer looking very angry, and Nathalia’s 
father evidently trying to calm and smooth him 
down. 

The Hamiltons took their leave, and Nina saw that 
their hostess looked troubled, and said something in 
Russian to Mr Hamilton, at which he smiled and 
tried to console her. 

Nina was very curious to know what it was all 
about. 

‘Perhaps I had better tell you,’ said her father, 
after a pause. ‘ That foolish Olga started discussing 
some order of the Government with that officer, and 
of course the other students chimed in. That is the 
worst of this higher culture after which all young 
Russians — girls as well as boys — crave; it makes 
them think they are capable of judging the affairs 
of the nation, and it is a dangerous game here, 
though people are allowed to say much more now 
than they used to be when I was last in Moscow. 
But, mind you, Nina, I won’t have you talking of 
such things with Olga, who will get herself into 
trouble if she goes on as she is doing, silly girl. I 
almost wish I had never entered their house,’ he 
added, looking much disturbed. 

‘I almost wish we had never come/ interposed 


112 


A ‘CLASS-LADY* AND A BALL. 


Miss Hamilton. ‘ I do not like Russian customs ; and 
as for those dancers, I can’t see any beauty in 
them, and madame — I really can’t say her name — 
seemed to think we were having a great treat in 
hearing them.’ 

‘ So we were, according to Russian ideas ; the 
restaurant in Petrovski Park is much frequented 
to see the gipsy dancers,’ replied Mr Hamilton. 

‘ Tastes differ,’ remarked Miss Hamilton grimly. 

‘You need not be afraid of my talking politics 
with Olga or any one else, papa,’ said Nina as she 
said good-night to him. ‘ I don’t care a button about 
them, and, besides, I don’t think it ’s safe.’ 

Her father laughed. ‘You’re right there, Nina, 
and I am glad you have so much sense.’ Mr 
Hamilton looked his relief at this remark of Nina’s, 
and in consequence let her associate as much as she 
liked with Nathalia and her family, with results 
which he had not foreseen. 


CHAPTER X. 


NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 

‘ OW, Nina, you are indeed a schoolgirl of 

X N Moscow, because your name has been en- 
tered upon the books of the First Gymnase, and 
you are to begin when the school opens after the 
Christmas recess, or whatever they call it,’ said Mr 
Hamilton one morning to his daughter. 

‘ I am glad to hear it ; I want it to be over,* replied 
Nina. 

‘ That ’s a pity, as it has not yet begun,’ observed 
Mr Hamilton dryly. 

‘ Oh, I don’t mean school ; I mean the plunge. It 
will be horrid being stared at by a lot of girls whom 
you can’t understand, and feeling a fool,’ explained 
Nina, 

‘Nathalia Arthurovna is coming to fetch you at 
eight o’clock. School begins at eight-thirty, so 
you will not make your entry quite alone,’ said her 
father, who spoke of Nathalia by her own and 
her father’s name, according to Russian custom, 
because he had made the arrangement in Russian, 
and no doubt was unconsciously translating from 
that tongue. 

S.M. 


H 


114 


ntna’s first school-day. 


‘Am I to wear my brown dress, do you think?* 
inquired Nina. 

‘ Yes ; I think you had better put on your uniform 
at once; it will make you feel more at home and 
less conspicuous, for I notice that you do look 
different from other girls here. I think it is that 
top-knot that Anna is so careful to make.* 

‘I noticed that,’ replied Nina; ‘and I have made 
up my mind to get myself up like a Russian girl, 
with hair brushed smoothly off my face.* 

So on the appointed day Nina gave the order to 
Anna, who highly disapproved. ‘You don’t surely 
want me to make you look like a heathen Chinee, 
miss? You just show them how to do their hair; 
I ’m sure Miss Nathalia would look much prettier if 
she did her hair like yours.’ 

‘ I haven’t come here to teach, but to learn, Anna ; 
and even if I had, I don’t think the Russians are 
so in love with English people and things as to copy 
my hair.’ 

So Anna was reluctantly obliged to comb back 
Nina’s soft tresses, which she dearly loved to fluff 
out, and the ends of which she was in the habit of 
curling, but which were now stiffly braided. 

And then Nathalia, in her brown dress, arrived 
punctually at eight o’clock on the cold January 
morning, and gave a quick and rather relieved 


NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 


115 


glance at Nina, who was also in a plain merino 
dress, the facsimile of the one Nathalia herself was 
wearing. 

‘Did you come alone, my dear,’ inquired Miss 
Hamilton; ‘and will you be able to bring Nina 
home, or shall we send for her ? ’ 

‘Oh no, do not send for Nina, please; I will bring 
her home. I always go to school alone ; it would be 
babyish to want some one to take me to school at my 
age, Olga says,’ cried Nathalia eagerly. 

‘ And I can quite well find my way home, if 
Natasha shows me the way there,’ put in Nina. 

‘I positively forbid it. I should not have a 
moment’s peace if I thought you were wandering 
about the streets of Moscow not able to tell where 
you live in case of anything happening. Why, you 
might be run over or anything,’ said Miss Hamilton 
in alarm. 

‘There is no danger; the streets are too narrow, 
and there are no motors to speak of — at least, I have 
only seen five. But I promise not to come home 
without Natasha until I can speak Russian,’ Nina 
declared. 

So the two went off together, Nina more excited 
than she had imagined possible. 

‘ Tell me, Natasha, do I look like a Russian school- 
girl now ? ’ she asked eagerly. 


116 


NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 


‘ N-0,’ said Nathalia slowly. * Of course your dress 
is all right ; but ’ 

‘But I am all wrong?’ interposed Nina quickly. 
‘ What is wrong, then ? Why do I not look Russian ? ’ 

‘ Oh, I don’t know,’ laughed Natasha. ‘ You look 
very nice, and you do not look half so foreign as you 
did when I first saw you ; but you have too rosy 
cheeks to be a Moscow girl. I wish I had such 
pretty cheeks. And then you look as if nothing 
could frighten you. That is the difference — at 
least, as well as I can explain it; but you are not 
so rosy this morning. Would you like to take a 
sledge ? Perhaps you are tired ? ’ 

‘ Oh dear no ; we walk miles in England, and it is 
all up and down hill, which is much more tiring than 
here, where it is as flat as flat can be. But what is 
the matter with my feet, Natasha ? You keep look- 
ing down at them.’ 

‘ Nina, you will not mind ; I was just looking to 
see if you had galoshes on. You know it is a rule 
that you must wear them, and I know it is not so in 
England; Anna has told ma’m’selle that you Eng- 
lish walk into houses — even the best — with muddy 
boots.’ 

This had never struck Nina, who answered, ‘But 
we wipe our boots on thick mats at the door, and if 
my boots were very dirty I should not go into a 


NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 117 

drawing-room ; so we are more polite than you seem 
to think.’ 

* It seems to me easier to wear overshoes. But here 
we are at the school. Excuse my speaking Russian ; 
there are some friends of mine, and I want to intro- 
duce them to you, but they do not speak English.’ 

And she spoke to the two girls in Russian, and then 
introduced them to Nina in French, and before ten 
minutes Nina had shaken hands with a dozen of her 
new schoolfellows, and tried to answer them in French, 
which fortunately she had been speaking a good deal 
for the last week or so, and which all the girls spoke 
more or less fluently. 

Then Natasha, wishing Nina good luck, went oflP 
with her class, and Nina was taken charge of by a 
young teacher, she supposed, though it might have 
been a ‘ class-lady ’ for all she knew, there being no 
distinguishing dress, and all the ‘ ladies of the staff’ 
being dressed very nicely but plainly in dark dresses. 

The First Gymnase was situated on one of the flne 
boulevards of Moscow. On entering, there was a large 
vestibule, to the left and right of which were the 
cloakrooms, where each girl put off her furs and the 
indispensable galoshes, or snow-boots ; and farther 
along was the handsome broad staircase up which all 
the girls passed to the classrooms ; then, on turning to 
the left along a wide corridor, which, on each of the 


118 


NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 


four stories, divided the building in two, there was a 
large hall or recreation-room on the first floor, in 
which all the girls assembled for morning prayers. 

The young dame who took charge of Nina in- 
quired if she was going in to prayers, and Nina, who 
had received no orders from her father on the sub- 
ject, said ‘Yes.’ She was accordingly ushered into 
the long room, and told to stand at the end of a long 
row of girls. 

Poor Nina wished she had not been so rash when 
the ceremony commenced, and all the pupils began to 
cross and prostrate themselves repeatedly. A wild 
idea that she had better follow their example passed 
through her mind ; but the rate at which they were 
going and the prostrations which followed decided 
her not to attempt any such thing. 

After prayers were over the girls filed out in perfect 
order and silence to their different classrooms, of 
which there seemed to be a great number, and Nina 
was taken by her cicerone to the head-mistress of the 
First Gymnase, such a dignified, grave-looking lady, 
very handsomely dressed in black silk, that Nina’s 
heart sank, and she felt that she should never feel 
at her ease with Madame La Directrice, as the girls, 
when they talked French, called her. 

The head-mistress began to talk to her ‘ as if some- 
how she suspected me of something, I didn’t know 


NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 


119 


what,’ Nina told her father afterwards ; and all the 
time that Nina answered her she looked keenly at the 
girl, until Nina spoke of her old school and Miss Poole 
and her eyes involuntarily filled with tears, and then 
the directress thawed, and her beautiful dark eyes 
grew sympathetic, the suspicious look vanished, and 
she said kindly, ‘ I hope when you leave us, which I 
trust will not be for a long time, that you will speak 
as highly of us. And I approve you for being so loyal 
to your late mistress; she must have been a very high- 
principled lady, and has evidently gained your affec- 
tion and taught you to like study. Of course I cannot 
tell how far you are advanced in your studies, and 
that makes little difference as to the place you will 
take amongst us. I wish you to sit at present with 
the first class — the little ones — and to follow their 
classes; and as I understand that you are to have 
daily private lessons in Russian, I hope that by the 
end of the year — the school year, that is, in May — 
you will be able to understand and speak Russian 
well enough to join a class of girls your own age after 
the summer vacation.’ 

Then Nina was taken to another room along the 
corridor, and the lady who took her said, ‘ I see that 
in England you do not curtsy to your teacher; all 
the girls do so here, and as we are going to see our 
director I think you had better do so thus ; ’ and the 


120 


NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 


lady gave a little, rapid genuflexion, which Nina tried, 
with small success, to copy. 

Her guide smiled, and said, * That will do ; you are 
a little stifi*, but that will pass; and here is the 
director’s room.’ 

She knocked, and a voice said in Russian, ‘ Come in ! ’ 

They went in, and, to Nina’s surprise, a tall, gray- 
headed gentleman, in the dark-blue uniform of a 
Russian general, with several medals and orders, sat 
in a chair. He rose and bowed to them, and shook 
hands with the teacher and then with Nina, saying 
that he had met her father, and was pleased to 
welcome her into his Gymnase, and that she had very 
excellent testimonials and would no doubt be a credit 
to them. 

After this Nina was taken to her first class, to which, 
it must be owned, she paid very little attention, for 
she was too much interested by all she saw and had 
seen and heard ; moreover, she had had no idea that 
she had required any testimonials, nor that Miss 
Poole had filled up a long paper with an account 
of Nina, her character and doings, at Mr Hamilton’s 
private request. 

‘The fact is, these Russians are so suspicious by 
nature that it will be much easier for me and for 
Nina if you state what you think of her, and why 
she has left your school, and so on,’ he had said to 


Nina’s first school-day. 


121 


Miss Poole when he told her that he was obliged to 
remove Nina from the High School; and he found 
that the information was much appreciated, and pro- 
bably would have been demanded. 

Nina was given a chair, the desks, which curiously 
enough were almost exactly like those used at the 
High School, being too small ; and her thoughts were 
wandering, when she heard ‘Nina! Ernestina 1’ re- 
peated twice impatiently by the ‘ class-lady,’ who sat 
at a desk in the right-hand corner of the room, whence 
she could overlook all the room. 

Nina started, and looked confused. 

‘ I ask you to say the first five letters of the alpha- 
bet; we have had them all this morning,’ said the 
teacher in the middle of the room in excellent English. 

‘ I am very sorry. I am afraid I was not listening. 
It is all so new and confusing to me ; I do not under- 
stand what you are saying,’ Nina replied. 

‘You can understand these pictures and letter- 
sheets,’ said the teacher reprovingly ; and so Nina felt 
she could, and paid attention for the rest of the 
morning till twelve o’clock came; then she left the 
classroom with the rest of the children, and a tiny 
mite of five put her hand in Nina’s as soon as they 
reached the recreation-hall and might break ranks 
and speak, and said something to her — in Russian, of 


course. 


122 


NINA’S FIEST SCHOOL-DAY. 


Nina smiled and shook her head, and began to feel 
rather out of place among these little ones, for they 
were in a recreation-hall on a higher story than 
Nathalia, who was with the upper school. But at 
this minute Nathalia appeared, and, saying something 
kind to the little girl, took Nina by the arm and 
carried her off. 

‘You are to have midday recreation with us, the 
directress says,’ she remarked. ‘Well, how did you 
get on? You look quite tired, and as if you were 
ready for tea. Come along; they have already 
brought the samovars* 

And so Nina found ; for as she entered the recrea- 
tion-hall, the curious odour of charcoal, which very 
often accompanies a samovar, assailed her, and she 
saw the huge, steaming samovars, at which maids 
were standing pouring out cups of weak tea as fast 
as they could, which thirsty girls were drinking 
quickly. 

And here Nina saw a custom which, common as it 
is in Russia, she had never noticed before. When the 
sugar was passed round, most of the girls put a lump 
in their mouths, and held it there while they drank, 
instead of putting it into their tea. 

‘ I suppose the reason is that your sugar is so hard 
to melt ? ’ suggested Nina. 

‘1 don’t know, I am sure; we often do it,’ said 




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Why do yon call all the English insincere?’ 


Page 123. 


NINA’S FIRST SOHOOL-DAY. 


123 


Nathalia. And then, tea having been drunk, they 
went off to play a game very like ‘touch,’ up and 
down the long recreation-hall. 

On the whole, Nina was glad when half-past two 
came, and the bell rang and school was over for the 
day. 

Nathalia waited for her new friend in the cloak- 
room, and the two walked home together. 

‘ Oh Nina, I am so glad ; the girls all like you ! ’ 
Nathalia said impulsively. 

‘ How can they tell the first day ? ’ replied Nina, 
blushing, but looking pleased, as indeed she was. 

‘We know quite well whether a girl is going to 
be nice, and it is not because of anything I said, for 
they had quite made up their minds that you would 

be like all the English — insincere and rude ’ 

Nathalia was so excited that she had talked faster 
than she ought to have done, and it was only when 
she saw Nina’s indignant face that she knew her 
mistake. ‘I beg your pardon,’ she stammered. ‘I 

did not mean to be rude ; but you see ’ 

‘ No, I don’t see,’ said Nina coldly. ‘ Why do you 
call all the English insincere ? I thought I was the 
first English girl you had ever seen ? ’ 

‘Yes; but I was judging by your Government, you 

know, that is so false ’ 

Nina grew scarlet with rage. ‘ My Government — 


124 NINA’S FIRST SCHOOL-DAY. 

the English Government is as honourable ’ But 

here she broke off* suddenly, and said in quite another 
tone, ‘ I would rather not talk about our Government, 
because you do not know anything about it, nor do 
I, as we are both too young ; but I am sorry you have 
such a bad opinion of the English.’ 

Poor Nathalia was in despair. ‘Oh Nina!’ she 
said piteously, and began to cry bitterly in the street, 
‘I am so sorry I said that; and the girls were just 
saying that perhaps we were wrong in our opinion 
of your country, and that you would teach us better, 
and that if all of them had as frank and honest faces 
as you they could not be false.’ 

It was not so easy to come off* her high horse ; but 
the sight of Nathalia in tears, in the public street 
too, melted Nina, who said soothingly, ‘Never mind, 
Natasha; it just shows how silly it is to judge things 
you know nothing of. I am glad the girls said such 
kind things about me; and you may tell them I 
think them very kind, and that they have very 
clever faces.’ 

‘And you are not angry any more, Nina ?’ 

‘No, of course not, Natasha. Well, good-bye till 
to-morrow morning at a quarter-past eight;’ and 
Nina ran up the staircase, heedless of the astonished 
and horrified looks of the hall -porter at her not 
having first removed her galoshes. 


CHAPTER XL 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 

‘ T^JAPA, is our Government false?’ cried Nina, 

JL entering the room (of which, as is usual in 
Russia, the door was open) where Mr Hamilton and 
his sister were sitting. 

Now, Mr Hamilton had been very anxious to know 
how Nina got on on her first day at school, and had 
specially hurried over and arranged his business so 
as to be home by three o’clock, at which time the two 
girls were expected back, and his consternation when 
she burst in upon him with this inquiry was great. 

‘ I thought I forbade you to talk politics with any 
one ! ’ he said angrily. 

‘Nor have I; but I can’t prevent other people 
talking about our Government, can I ? ’ said Nina. 

‘ Then I shall take you away from school at once. 
Who has been talking of such things to you?’ he 
cried, much disturbed. 

‘Nathalia simply said that,’ said Nina, and ex- 
plained how, ‘ and of course I had to make it up with 
her when she began to cry in the street. Fancy 
such a big girl doing so ! But you might just tell 
me, is our Govern ’ 


126 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


‘Never mind about our Government; that is only 
a way nations have of talking against the diplomacy 
of other nations, especially when they have both been 
trying to get the better of each other and one has 
failed; then it says the other is false. But I don’t 
want to talk about the Government of England; I 
want to talk about the First Gymnase of Moscow. 
How did its English pupil get on ? ’ 

‘Oh, beautifully! I am with the tiny ones, and 
they are so funny and quick. I believe even Russian 
babies like to learn ; at any rate, these do. But, oh 
father, am I to go to prayers ? Because I won’t.’ 

‘ In that case, I fail to see the necessity of asking 
my wishes upon the subject,’ observed her father 
dryly. 

‘I didn’t mean that. Of course I will go if you 
want me ; but it is so horrid and awkward for me. 
They prostrate themselves all at once and touch the 
ground with their foreheads, and scramble up again 
in a minute, and you know that makes my head ache, 
and I feel giddy.’ 

‘I hope, James, you do not intend to make Nina 
do things which have no meaning for her, and in 
which I see no object?’ Miss Hamilton observed 
stiffly. 

‘No, of course not. She does not belong to the 
Orthodox Greek Church, and I am sure the authorities 


EUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


127 


will not wish it. — At any rate, I will just write to 
the directress and say that we are Protestants, and 
she will excuse you from attendance at prayers. But 
how do you like your schoolfellows — pretty well ? ’ 
‘Very much, as yet. And, do you know, I feel at 
home with them already — not a bit as if they were 
foreigners, as we did with the French and German 
girls at the High School. They are not so polite and 
graceful as the French ; but they are so affectionate, 
although they do not gush.’ 

‘Well done, Nina; you could not have described 
that characteristic better if you had been here seven 
years instead of seven days ! ’ 

‘Is your mistress nice, Nina,’ inquired Miss Hamil- 
ton ; ‘ and does she talk English ? ’ 

‘Yes, almost like an Englishwoman; and she is 
very nice to her little ones, and I have learnt the 
whole of the alphabet already, and six words.’ 

‘Bravo!’ exclaimed Mr Hamilton. ‘You have 
beaten your father, then, for it took him six weeks.’ 

‘ Oh, did it really, papa ? It did not seem so diffi- 
cult when we had picture-cards put on the black- 
board, and the little ones said the letters one after 
another; and of course I shall get the right pro- 
nunciation that way.’ 

‘ Then I did well, after all, to send you to school. 
I was half-afraid I had not when you came in boiling 


128 RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 

over with politics ; but I want you to be a good 
linguist, and you will learn to be that at a Russian 
school, if you learn nothing else.* 

‘ I should think so ; they all learn French except in 
my class. But, papa, our head-mistress is a man — a 
general ; fancy that ! * 

‘I can’t fancy any such thing,’ said her father; 
while Miss Hamilton, who took everything literally, 
exclaimed in wonder, ‘ A man ! What do you mean, 
Nina ? ’ 

‘ Oh, bother ! that ’s because I am speaking so fast ; 
I have such a lot to tell you. I mean, we have a 
directress, who is a very nice lady — rather stiff, but 
very kind when she smiles ; and a director, a general 
in uniform.’ 

‘ Is that true, James ? ’ demanded Miss Hamilton, 
who thought this most extraordinary. ‘ What do they 
want two head-people for ? ’ 

‘Yes, quite true. I saw him about Nina’s enter- 
ing. You see, it is a Crown establishment. Its full 
name is “ First ^ Gy mnase of the Crown.” It was 
founded by the Empress Catherine, and they have a 
Crown official to manage it.’ 

‘ But why have a general ? And why a head- 
mistress as well ? ’ 

‘ My dear Penelope, you had better go and ask the 
grand dukes who are at the head of such affairs, and 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS, 


129 


of whom I had to get permission to go over the 
school. And as for why they have a director and a 
directress : because they always have two or even three 
people here to do the work of one — you must have 
noticed that yourself ? Why have we two hall- 
porters — one to put on your galoshes, and one to 
take them off ? * 

‘Very wasteful,* observed Miss Hamilton, but 
thought it wise to say no more in Ninas presence. 

But Nina had made this discovery herself, and 
chimed in, ‘ That was just what I was thinking this 
morning. I don’t see the use of two people to 
manage one class — one to surveiller, and the other 
to teach.* 

‘ One has to keep her eye upon you and see that 
you pay attention, and the other has to teach you,* 
suggested her father. 

Nina laughed, remembering her experience of the 
morning. ‘That’s just what they do; but it does 
seem a waste, and I can’t see how that can pay.* 

‘ Oh, it doesn*t ! The Government pays all that is 
required. They even pay a lady doctor to see you if 
you are ill ; and if you faint there is a room to 
which you can be taken.* 

‘ If I faint it will be because it is so horridly hot ; 
but the rooms are so big and lofty that I don’t feel it 
so much,* remarked Nina. ‘ But I forgot to say that 

S.M. I 


180 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


Olga [Nathalia’s elder sister] has asked me to go to 
the blessing of the waters this afternoon.’ 

‘ H’m 1 I don’t know, I am sure,’ said Mr Hamilton. 
‘ Olga is rather an advanced young lady, and I do 
not wish you to imbibe her views,’ observed Mr 
Hamilton doubtfully. 

‘ Oh papa, do let me go ! I do like Olga so awfully, 
and her conversation will be most improving. It will, 
indeed,’ added Nina, as she saw her father smile. 
‘She goes in for the higher culture, and knows a 
frightful lot.’ 

‘Yes; I know all about this higher culture ! These 
young girls go to these colleges and learn a lot, and 
think they are going to teach their elders. A hotbed 
of Nihilism they are, as a rule ; but mark my words, 
Nina, not a word on such subjects, or off you go to an 
Institute, and how would you like that ? ’ 

‘ I don’t know what an Institute is, so I can’t say ; 
but if it ’s anything horrid, I shall run away to Nana 
in England. What is an Institute, papa ? ’ 

‘It’s a school for the nobles, also founded by the 
Empress Catherine, and you are kept there for seven 
years free ; but you must not go home more than once 
a year — it used to be once in seven years — and you 
hear nothing of what is going on in the world.’ 

‘ It ’s a prison r cried Nina. ‘You don’t catch me 
going there ! ’ 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 131 

‘Very well ! don’t let me catch you talking politics 
or becoming too independent, which people say is the 
fault of the Gymnastika, as they call you.’ 

‘ Oh, is that what they mean ? I heard that word 
twice this morning, and wondered what it meant, but 
I could not remember it to repeat it ; and they must 
have been talking about that other kind of school, 
for they said InstitutJca directly after. Is that what 
the girls who go to the Institute are called then, 
papa ? ’ 

‘Yes; and there is divided opinion upon the point. 
Some say that the Instituthi are silly bread-and- 
butter misses when they leave school, and others that 
they are lady-like ; and the Gymnastiki are bold and 
ape mannish manners. We shall see how you turn 
out, Nina.’ 

Nina considered a moment. ‘So I am a Gym- 
nastika V Then she said, ‘Well, papa, do you know 
that was just what the French girls used to say of us 
High School girls — that we were bold and aped men, 
and walked along the streets like gendarmes with our 
arms swinging; and this morning as I was coming 
home I nearly forgot that I was in Moscow, because I 
saw several girls walking in front of me with satchels, 
swinging their arms just like some girls I know at 
home.’ 

‘ It would require a stretch of imagination to make 


132 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


me imagine I was in London, with deep snow on the 
ground and this freezing air to remind me that I am 
in Kussia ! ’ protested Miss Hamilton, who was not in 
the least reconciled to her new home. ‘And I do 
wish it was the fashion to use an umbrella. I do not 
like to be the only person with an umbrella ; and yet 
one spoils one’s bonnet so in the snow.’ 

‘ You ought not to wear a bonnet. Why not wear 
a fur toque ? ’ remarked her brother. 

‘ At my age ? No, thank you ! I am quite satisfied 
with my own tastes, and do not purpose copying the 
Russians in their dress ! ’ declared Miss Hamilton. 

‘Well, well, you must do as you please; I only 
thought a fur hat would be warmer. — You find it so 
— don’t you, Nina ? ’ 

‘Yes; I should think so. It is cold early in the 
mornings, but I don’t mind it a bit; and, in fact, 
when I am talking about something interesting, I 
forget all about its being cold. And what fun it is 
seeing or hearing something new every day ! ’ cried 
Nina. 

‘ H’m ! ’ said Mr Hamilton, looking at his daughter’s 
eager face from under his knitted brows ; ‘ I am glad 
you have settled down so happily ; but don’t let this 
love of new things lead you into any folly, or, mind ! 
off you go to England, and leave me here for the rest 
of the two years.’ 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


133 


This threat had the effect of sobering Nina, and she 
assured her father of her * common-sense.* ‘I just 
like to hear them talk, and it ’s rather nice to be with 
such cultured girls,’ she observed, with such a quaint 
air that her father and aunt exchanged smiles above 
her head. 

‘ Meanwhile, Nina, your idea of culture seems to be 
a disregard of trifles, such as removing your galoshes 
before coming into a room,’ observed Mr Hamilton, 
pointing to the little pool made by Nina’s feet. 

‘ Oh ! ’ exclaimed Nina penitently,’ I never thought 
of that ; of course that was what the hall-porter was 
bowing away at me for. I must go and change.’ 

‘No, no; take them off and carry them in your 
hand ! ’ cried Miss Hamilton, ‘ or else you will make 
marks everywhere. Dreadful climate ! ’ she grumbled. 

When Nina, galoshes in hand, had left the room 
and was far enough off not to hear, Mr Hamilton said 
to his sister, ‘ I don’t know whether I ought to let 
Nina go with Olga Poltiskoff this afternoon. She is 
one of those young Russian girls who are going to 
reform their country, or die in the attempt ; and I 
don’t want her to put such ideas into Nina’s head.’ 

‘ Is Olga the one with the bright, dark eyes and a 
quick way of talking,’ inquired Miss Hamilton — 
‘ Nathalia’s elder sister ? She is a very pretty girl, if 
it is the one I mean.’ 


134 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


‘Yes; that is the one. She is good-looking. I 
have nothing against her; in fact, she has a very 
fine character. It is only her views that I object 
to,’ replied her brother. 

‘You mean that you object to the fact that she 
wishes to reform her country or die for it ? ’ questioned 
Miss Hamilton. 

‘ Yes,’ said Mr Hamilton. 

‘Well, I like her for it. There’s no doubt that the 
country wants reforming, and I like a woman who 
is ready to die for her country ! ’ announced Miss 
Hamilton. 

Her brother stared at her in mingled horror and 
astonishment. ‘Upon my word, Penelope, I never 
expected to hear revolutionary views from you ! I 
begin to wish I had left you both in England ; if you 
go on talking like that ’ 

‘ Please give me credit for a little more sense than 
that. Besides, there is nothing revolutionary in what 
I have said ; and I suppose I can say what I like to 
you in our own house ? ’ 

‘I don’t know about that,’ said Mr Hamilton, 
looking round, half-mischievously and half-seriously. 
‘ With all these doors open, one never knows ! ’ 

‘ Then we had better keep them shut,’ retorted his 
sister. ‘ However, there is no danger, as not one soul 
in the hotel can understand English, as I know to my 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


135 


cost. And as for this Olga, I liked what I saw of 
her, and I think she is giving Nina more elevated 
ideas of life. I hope you will not prevent their going 
out together.* 

‘ Well, you do astonish me ! * exclaimed Mr Hamilton. 

Miss Hamilton glanced round to see that the door 
was shut (in spite of her assertion that it was quite 
safe to talk with open doors), and remarked, ‘I 
suppose you will admit that they are in want of 
reform in Russia ? * 

‘ So they are everywhere, and I am not so sure that 
we have not quite as much need for it in England as 
here, what with sweating and unemployment. I am 
for reforming one’s self first ; and as in this case it is a 
safer work, I trust you and Nina will restrain your 
ardour for reform until you are back in England. 
However, as you both seem to like Olga, and as 
Madame Poltiskoff is very anxious that she should be 
friendly with Nina, I suppose she must. Fortunately 
something seems to have made Nina very cautious.’ 

* I dare say it was Warsaw. She was as white as a 
sheet when she came back to the hotel under the 
escort of those two policemen, or whatever they were.’ 

‘Ah, no doubt that accounts for it! Well, it 
frightened me a good deal when I heard of it ; but it 
may have been a blessing in disguise.’ 

Nina meanwhile ran along to her bedroom at the 


136 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


other end of the corridor ; and not finding Anna there 
or in the sewing-room, the girl went ofif to Anna’s 
bedroom, where she found her so intent doing some- 
thing to her washing-stand that she did not hear her 
young mistress enter. ‘ Oh miss, is that you ? I am 
having such a time with my washing-stand ; it ’s out 
of order, and I have to fetch water every morning ! * 
she exclaimed when she saw Nina. 

It should be explained that Kussians do not believe 
in filling a basin with water to wash with, but always 
wash in running water ; to effect which they have a 
tap above and no plug in the basin, and let the water 
run. 

‘What is wrong? There never is a plug in the 
basins; the water runs away somewhere into pipes. 
Why do you stop it up, Anna ? Why can’t you wash 
your face and hands in running water as the Russians 
do ? ’ demanded Nina. 

‘ Seeing that there ’s no water and no tap to turn 
on to get it, I don’t see how I could, miss, even if I 
wanted to, which I don’t I There ’s nothing aggravates 
me so much as to see the water all wasting like it 
does in these basins; but there’s no water here, as 
you see,’ replied Anna. 

Nina came to investigate. ‘ How funny ! I wonder 
where the tap has been. We must get it seen to ; you 
can’t fetch water every day.’ 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


137 


‘Well, miss,’ began Anna, rather shamefacedly, ‘I 
don’t exactly fetch anything for myself ; ’ and even as 
she spoke a maid came in with some water. 

‘ I wish we could ask her what is wrong with this 
thing,’ remarked Nina, taking no notice of Anna’s 
promotion to having a maid to wait upon her. 

‘I think it’s been some kind of musical instru- 
ment,’ observed Anna, shaking the square piece of 
furniture supposed to be a wash-stand; ‘ there ’s a piano- 
pedal down at the bottom here as plain as can be.’ 

Nina looked, and saw a piece of brass just like a 
piano-pedal at the bottom of the stand; but exclaimed, 
‘ Oh, nonsense ! Is it likely they would give us an old 
piano as a wash-stand ? ’ 

‘ That ’s where a pedal is on your piano, miss,’ per- 
sisted Anna ; ‘ and there ’s no water anywhere. I dare 
say it ’s some of their queer notions ! ’ 

But Nina did not believe this, and said to the maid 
in English (not that she expected her to understand), 
gesticulating at the same time, ‘ What ’s this for ? ’ 
pointing to the ‘ piano-pedal.’ 

The maid understood the gesture, and immediately 
came forward, saying something in Eussian, and put 
her foot on the piece of brass. Immediately a jet 
of water sprang out of a little opening above the 
basin, and continued to pour down till she took her 
foot off. 


138 


RUSSIAN WAYS NOT AS OURS. 


Anna gave vent to an ejaculation of amazement, 
and stood there open-mouthed ; while Nina gave a peal 
of laughter. ‘ We were stupid ! ’ she cried, as she said 
‘ Merci ! ’ to the girl, it being the fashion to use the 
French word for ‘ thanks ' in Russia. 

‘Now, Anna, you know how to get water,’ said 
Nina. 

Anna gave a shake of her head, and remarked, ‘ I 
almost wish I didn’t ; I never shall get used to washing 
in a fountain, and as for remembering to keep my 
foot on the piano-pedal while I wash, I never can ! ’ 

‘ It ’s not a piano-pedal, Anna ; it ’s a — a ’ Here 

Nina stopped short, for how to describe the contriv- 
ance she did not know. 

‘If that isn’t a piano-pedal down there, I don’t 
know what it is ; and no one but a Russian would 
ever think of putting her foot on a piece of brass 
to make a fountain spring up in the air to wash in. 
Aunt will never believe that when I tell her.’ 

‘It’s very original,’ declared Nina; ‘you can’t deny 
that. And now, come and dress me ; I am going to 
see the waters blessed after lunch.* 

‘What waters, miss? That’s more than I have 
seen since I ’ve been here — water, I mean ; it ’s nothing 
but ice, as far as I can see.’ 

‘ I never thought of that; so it is ! Well, I dare say 
you will come too, so you will see some water at last’ 


CHAPTER XIL 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 

^ Nina, you are sure that you and Anna 

X ^ can find your way to Madame PoltiskofFs ? ’ 
inquired Mr Hamilton as Nina came in, muffled up 
in furs from head to foot. ‘If not, you had better 
let me put you into a droshky.’ 

‘Oh no, papa; don’t do that. We know our way 
quite well ; and if not, we have tongues in our heads 
and can ask.’ 

‘ I should have said that that was just what you 
could not do, your tongues, though very ready, not 
being Russian ones,’ replied her father. 

‘ Oh, but they are — that is to say, we can ask for 
“ Petrovka, pojoulista ” ! ’ cried Nina eagerly. 

Petrovka was the name of the street where Madame 
Poltiskoff lived, and pojoulista is ‘ please ’ in Russian. 
So Mr Hamilton laughed, as he answered, ‘ That is all 
very well ; but how about understanding what they 
say to you in reply ? To be sure, if you meet a well- 
dressed woman, or ’ 

‘ We sha’n’t do that ; every one goes about in fur 
caps and cloaks, so you never know how they are 
dressed underneath/ interrupted Nina. 


140 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


‘ If you had let me finish, Nina,’ rebuked her father, 
‘ I should have explained that if you met an educated- 
looking person, you would be safe in addressing her 
in French; but I should advise you to accept my offer 
of a droshky.’ 

Nina felt inclined to say that it was not easy to tell 
who was educated-looking and who was not when 
every one was muflBled up to the nose in fur. But she 
was very anxious to be allowed to walk, so she only 
observed, 'It does not matter what they say; you 
know people always point when they are directing 
you which way to go, so I shall just go in the direction 
they point to, and not take any notice of what they 
say. But I don’t want a droshky ; I am so tired of 
being jolted about over heaps of hard snow.’ 

Mr Hamilton shook his head doubtfully. ' I hope 
I shall not have to go to the police-station to find you 
to-night. However, you have your passports with you, 
and I will write the address you are going to in 
Russian on my card, and you must show that to some 
respectable person.* 

The mention of the police-station sobered Nina, 
though she made no remark, and she meekly took the 
written address. ‘I’ll give it to a policeman if we 
get lost,’ she agreed. 

‘No, no, don’t do that; nine-tenths of them can’t 
read ! ’ objected Mr Hamiltoa 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 141 

‘Then that's very disgraceful/ said Nina severely, 
as she walked off with the card in her hand. 

‘ Miss, miss — look ! ' cried Anna as they turned the 
corner of the street. 

‘ What — where ? ’ inquired Nina with interest, look- 
ing round to see what was exciting Anna. 

‘ There, miss — Singer’s machine ! They Ve got them 
everywhere 1 ’ 

‘ Is that all ? ’ replied Nina. ‘ Why should you be so 
interested in that advertisement ? You must have seen 
it dozens of times in London. It is always the same 
simpering girl working a machine which never turns. 
I thought it was some new sight, or a new church at 
least ! ’ 

‘ There ’d be nothing surprising in that, for I ’m sure 
we see a new church every five minutes — and they ’re 
not so very pretty, now we’ve got used to them — 
and all those spangles and painted pictures and things ! 
But to see the very same advertisement that we see on 
the hoarding at home — why, it makes me feel quite 
home-like 1 ’ 

‘ I am very glad if it pleases you, Anna ; but as it 
is the third time you have pointed it out to me, you 
must not expect me to be so surprised.’ 

‘Not this advertisement, miss; the other two were 
in another street,’ explained Anna. 

‘Well, I don’t care. Next time you want me to 


142 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


look at something I shall not take any notice ; I am 
tired of that, child,’ declared Nina, joking. 

‘ Oh miss, look ! ’ cried Anna almost before the 
words had left her lips. 

‘ I shall not ! I suppose it ’s “ Sunlight Soap ” this 
time ? ’ said Nina. 

‘ Oh miss, what a pity ! ’ cried Anna as she looked 
after a carriage which had passed and was turn- 
ing down a side-street. ‘ Didn’t you see it ? It 
was a carriage with three such beautiful horses 
abreast, and two grand coachmen with no hats 
on; and every one took off his hat as it passed, and 
bowed. I shouldn’t wonder if it was the Czar 
inside.’ 

' That is what comes of crying, “ Wolf ! wolf ! ” 
When it is something worth seeing, of course I do not 
look. But it can’t have been the Czar, because he is at 
St Petersburg, and very seldom comes here ; and if he 
did, he would not go about without a lot of soldiers 
and guards, for fear the revolutionaries should blow 
him up,’ said Nina, and then stopped short and looked 
annoyed; for a man who passed turned round and 
looked sharply at her, and then slackened his pace 
so as to walk just in front of them. 

Anna, who did not notice this, remarked, ‘ I ’d blow 
them up if I was him ’ 

‘Come down here, Anna; this is the best way,’ 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


143 


said Nina abruptly, and put her hand on Anna’s arm 
to prevent her objecting or stopping to argue. 

When they had turned the corner Nina gave a 
glance to see that they were not followed, and heaved 
a great sigh of relief when she saw that the man who 
had been listening to their conversation was not to be 
seen. 

‘Miss Nina, I’m sure we have never been down 
this street before ! ’ said Anna anxiously. ‘ Hadn’t we 
better ask that man the way ? ’ she continued, looking 
as she spoke at a man who had just turned into the 
same street and was behind them. 

Nina turned round, and started as she saw the very 
man whom she was trying to avoid. She took a 
sudden resolution, and walking straight up to him, 
said in English, ‘As you understand English, per- 
haps you will be so kind as to direct me to Madame 
Poltiskofi*? ’ holding out at the same time the card 
her father had written for her. 

The man took off his hat politely, and did not 
appear to be in the least embarrassed as he said in 
perfect English, ‘ Certainly ; but you have turned out 
of your way. You must retrace your steps and turn 
to the right when you get into the road you have 
just left, cross the Grand Place at the end, and the 
street opposite will take you to Petrovka.’ Then he 
again took off his hat, returned the card, and left 


144 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


them, going himself in the opposite direction to the 
one he had indicated to Nina. 

Anna looked in astonishment at Nina, not under- 
standing how she knew that this particular stranger 
understood English, nor why she had come down that 
street at all. But Nina's lips were pressed close to- 
gether, and she did not appear to be in a mood to be 
questioned, so Anna prudently held her tongue, and 
the two walked on in silence. Nina was annoyed at 
the occurrence, and she was also annoyed at what she 
considered a liberty on the part of the stranger, who 
had turned over the card to read her father’s name. 
However, he had gone now, and they were nearing 
Madame Poltiskolfs house, so Nina tried to dismiss 
the aifair from her mind, and made a firm resolution 
to be careful for the future what remarks she made 
in the streets of Moscow. 

Olga was ready and waiting for them, as was 
Natasha, and the three girls and Anna got into the 
Russians’ roomy sledge and drove off to see the bless- 
ing of the waters of the Moskwa. 

‘ I suppose all that you see here interests you ? ’ said 
Olga, smiling at Nina, whose eager face showed her 
enjoyment. ‘ I wish I could look at it all through your 
eyes ! I have seen this ceremony dozens of times ’ 

‘Oh Olga, how can you have?’ cried Nina. ‘You 
are not two dozen years old yet ! ’ 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 145 

*No; and we have not often been at the “blessing,” 
though we have generally been in Moscow,’ objected 
Nathalia. 

Olga laughed. ‘At any rate, I have been often 
enough not to be interested in it, or in the crowd, so 
I am looking forward to seeing Nina’s enjoyment,’ 
she replied ; and then she sighed. ‘ It is difficult for 
any one who thinks to enjoy anything at such a time,’ 
she added. 

Nina made no reply. She knew quite well to what 
Olga was alluding, and indeed the little episode of 
that afternoon inclined her to agree that enjoyment 
was likely to be difficult in Moscow. 

Nathalia, however, was not of this opinion. ‘ What 
nonsense it is to sigh like a sick person, Olga ! Why 
should you not enjoy yourself ? See how the sun is 
shining brightly, and how quick the horses fly through 
the fresh air, and how the people are hurrying to the 
Kremlin to see the beautiful sight ! And now, look 
at all the soldiers and other officials in their beautiful 
uniforms, all gathering together ! And there, see — 
there is the governor-general! Salute him, Olga!’ 
she cried, as her sister turned away her head. 

‘ I salute no tyrants ! ’ muttered Olga between her 
teeth, resolutely keeping her head turned away from 
the carriage of the governor-general of Moscow as it 
dashed past their sledge. 

S.M. 


J 


146 THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 

Nathalia stood half-up and bowed several times, 
managing to put herself in front of Olga, so that her 
sister’s incivility should not be noticed. ‘I suppose 
you want to take another journey to Paris ?’ she ob- 
served as she sat down again, and looked indignantly 
at her elder sister. 

‘ More likely to Sibe ’ 

‘ Be silent ! ’ cried Nathalia, shivering at her reckless 
sister’s speech. 

All this made Nina feel very uncomfortable, as indeed 
it was calculated to do ; but at this minute there was 
a beating of drums, and they entered the Kremlin and 
took their stand with many others on the side that 
overlooks the river, and from which they had a good 
view of the procession of priests, headed by the 
Metropolitan, or Archbishop, of Moscow, who formed 
a kind of semicircle on the banks of the river round 
a hole which had been broken in the ice, over which 
they began to say some prayers, all the men present 
being bareheaded the while, in spite of the intense 
cold and of the snow which suddenly began to fall. 

Then the Metropolitan stepped on to the ice of 
the river and dipped the Holy Cross into the 
hole, and the artillery of the Kremlin gave a mighty 
salute, startling Nina, who did not expect this; 
and the waters were blessed in celebration of the 
Epiphany. 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 147 

The Metropolitan moved slowly away, and with 
dignified mien got into his carriage again, and the 
other priests followed him; the military and civil 
officials also left, and the crowd rushed to the hole, 
into which they dipped bottles and all the receptacles 
they could, so as to carry away the water to the 
sick. 

‘Miss, whoever was that old gentleman with the 
long white hair down his back, looking for all the 
world like one of them artists ? ’ inquired Anna in a 
stage whisper to Nina. ‘And what was he dressed 
up like that for, all in the snow ? ’ 

‘ He is the chief priest of the Greek Church, and 
those are his vestments,’ explained Nina; ‘and I 
don’t know why his hair is long, but I notice that all 
the priests here have long hair, so I suppose it is the 
custom.’ 

‘Yes,’ said Olga, to whom Nina turned for infor- 
mation; ‘they are all obliged to wear it so; it helps 
us to know that they are priests. Those vestments 
are worth I don’t know how much, and so was that 
cross. It is very beautiful ; but you were too far off 
to see it. One day all that will belong to us.’ 

‘ That cross ? ’ said Nina innocently. ‘ Is it an heir- 
loom ? ’ 

‘An heirloom of the people. All those jewels in 
the churches, all the wealth shut up in them, will 


148 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


belong to the people, and they will be able to free the 
country from the rich ’ 

‘Please, Olga,* said Nina, colouring deeply and 
speaking rather shyly, ‘papa has forbidden me to 
talk about such things, if you don’t mind.’ 

‘ But I do mind. I am surprised that an intelligent 
girl like you — Natasha does not count, for she is not 
intelligent, but you are — and I am surprised that you 
meekly sit down under such tyranny.’ 

‘ It is not tyranny. Papa is not a tyrant. I don’t 
believe you know the meaning of that word, or half 
the words you are using,’ said Nina, her temper rising 
at this criticism of her father. 

But Olga was not at all offended. ‘I like to see 
you angry ; you look so energetic. I feel that you 
would be useful in a crisis.’ 

‘ I don’t want to get into any crisis,’ replied Nina, 
mollified at the praise, but rather mixed as to 
grammar. 

‘ I should think not, indeed,’ agreed Nathalia, who 
was not pleased at being told that she was not in- 
telligent, a statement which was not at all true; 
‘ and our father also has told us not to talk of high 
matters, which is a practice that can only end un- 
happily.’ 

‘ One is not put into this world to be happy ’ 

began Olga. 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


149 


‘ One is not put into this world to be unhappy, nor 
to make others unhappy!* retorted Nathalia. 

‘ That is why I try to stop people being made un- 
happy,* replied Olga quickly. ‘It is impossible to 
look round upon all the misery that one sees without 
trying to relieve it. — You who are English agree 
with me, surely, for your countrywomen are great 
philanthropists ? * 

‘Yes, of course I do,’ said Nina; ‘I did not know 
that was what you meant.’ 

‘ I only want the people to be happy,’ said Olga, 
who had her own reasons for trying to win Nina 
over to her views. 

‘ I thought you said that people were not put into 
this world to be happy ? ’ observed Nathalia shrewdly. 
‘ And you forget that you make our father and mother 
very unhappy.’ 

‘Nathalia does not understand things,’ said Olga. 
‘ I do not make my father and mother unhappy ; it 
is circumstances which do that. And when I said 
that we were not put into this world to be happy, 
I meant that we were not put into it to seek hap- 
piness, but we were meant by nature to be happy ; 
it is only men’s wickedness which has prevented 
that, and my mission is to alter things and undo 
the evil that has been done by the wickedness of 
others.’ 


150 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


‘Not by doing wicked things yourself/ put in 
Nathalia. 

Olga turned quickly upon her sister. ‘ Nathalia, I 
forbid you to speak of anything I may be going to 
do, or which you may imagine that I am going to do/ 
she said with determination, and Nathalia was silent. 

Olga was several years older than Nina and 
Nathalia; and, moreover, she was very pretty and 
attractive, and she spoke with so much earnestness 
of her ‘mission’ that Nina was carried away by 
her eloquence. Besides, the word ‘ mission ’ gave the 
English girl an idea that it was some religious work 
of which the elder girl was speaking. So when 
Olga talked on about her views of life and the 
bettering of the lot of the peasants, Nina sympathised 
heartily, and asked eager questions; and Olga in 
reply told her of some of the sufferings of the 
peasants, which horrified Nina. 

Nathalia, finding that Nina took no notice of her, 
turned to Anna, to whom she explained, in halting 
English, the places they passed, and paid no attention 
to the conversation of her sister and Nina, until they 
arrived at the door of their English friend, when she 
heard Olga say in a low voice, ‘ Very well, then, I will 
call for you on my way.’ 

Nathalia looked quickly from one to the other. 
Nina accepted with evident pleasure Olga’s invitation. 


THE BLESSING OF THE WATERS. 


151 


and went into the house with Anna. And Olga, 
nodding to her sister, said, ‘ Good-bye, Natasha ; you 
had better go home in the sledge. I have a visit 
to pay.* Then almost pushing her younger sister 
back into the sledge, she cried ‘ Home ! ’ to the coach- 
man, and walked swiftly off in another direction. 


CHAPTER XIII 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


HE sledge dashed off with Nathalia in it before 



1 she had had a moment to do more than say 
a hasty good-bye to either of her companions, and 
Nathalia was not pleased. ‘That was a way Olga 
had — to manage people,’ and Nathalia did not like 
being managed, especially by Olga ; besides, she had 
not been able to say good-bye properly to Nina, who, 
after all, was her friend, and ought not to have been 
so interested in what Olga had to say as to forget 
her, Nathalia, and go off like that ! 

The girl drew the fur rug up closer round her, for 
it was now late in the afternoon and very cold, and 
she was glad to be going to her warm house instead 
of walking with Olga, who did not seem to feel the 
cold when she was off on one of her expeditions, no 
one knew where. 

Nathalia had not liked Olga s expression when she 
left her ; she had looked in one of her moods, which 
meant that she was dreaming dreams of an ideal state 
when every one should be rich and happy. 

‘She thinks she has got a new member of her 
club,’ muttered Nathalia to herself as she nestled 


OLGA ARTHUEOVNA. 


153 


down among the furs; ‘but she is mistaken. Nina 
has too much sense to believe in her ideas; and, 
besides, she is very obedient, and her father has 
forbidden her to have anything to do with such 
things;' and so Nathalia consoled herself that the 
friendship between her elder sister and Nina would 
not go very far, and ran into the house, kicking off 
her galoshes almost as she ran, with a rapidity caused 
by practice, and went upstairs to her mother. 

‘Where are Olga and Nina? I expected you all 
back to tea,' said Madame Poltiskoff. ‘Have you 
quarrelled ? ' she continued, for there was a cloud 
upon Nathalia's brow. 

‘ Oh no, we have not quarrelled,' replied Nathalia. 

‘Then why did you not bring Nina back as you 
intended ? ' 

Nathalia frowned. ‘To tell the truth, matuslika 
[little mother], Nina and Olga were talking so fast 
together that they forgot me, and Nina got out of 
the sledge with Olga so quickly that I had no time 
to give her your invitation or to say good-bye 
properly.' 

‘Natasha, what were they talking about? Why 
did you not join in the conversation too ? You know 
I trust you,' said her mother anxiously. 

‘ You know what Olga is, and how she can make 
people listen and do what she likes; and when she 


154 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


began to tell tales of the hardships of the peasants, 
what was I to do ? Nina was very much interested, 
I could see ; and, after all, it is true, and Nina would 
only have been vexed with me if I had interfered 
with her/ 

‘ Oh dear ! you say that she was interested ? I 
thought she was such a sensible girl, not exaltee like 
poor Olga. I wish now that I had not asked Mr 
Hamilton to let them be friends. I thought she 
would influence Olga — not be influenced by her. I 
shall never forgive myself if anything evil should 
come of the friendship ! ’ said Madame Poltiskofi*, quite 
distressed. 

Nathalia did not as usual try to cheer her mother, 
but asked abruptly, ‘Can you not take a journey to 
the west ? To Paris or Switzerland or somewhere ? ’ 

Madame Poltiskofi* sighed and shook her head. 
‘We are not long back. I cannot sacrifice you all 
for Olga; and even at Paris she was not safe, for 
she found friends there, and was watched; and in 
Switzerland ifc would be worse. No; I must wait 
and see whether we cannot make Olga prudent.’ 

Nathalia opened her mouth as if she were going 
to say something, but glanced at her mother’s troubled 
face, and shut it without saying anything. 

Nathalia was thinking of the appointment which 
she had heard Olga make with Nina, evidently to go 


OLGA ARTHUKOVNA. 


155 


somewhere together; and wherever it was, it must 
have been some place to which she did not want 
Nathalia to go, which meant some political meeting. 
But, then, how was it that Nina, who had spoken 
so firmly to Olga about her father’s wishes on the 
subject, should ten minutes afterwards have agreed 
to go to a political meeting ? She felt half-inclined, 
after all, to tell her mother about it, and also about 
Olga’s not bowing to the governor-general ; but then 
she thought it would do no good, and only make her 
mother anxious and unhappy for nothing, for Olga 
would not attend to any warnings or commands from 
her parents on the subject. 

So, with Russian fatalism, she said to herself the 
expression, which is so often upon the lips of her 
countrymen, ‘ Neet chai vo ’ (‘ It can’t be helped ’). 

And Madame PoltiskofiT echoed her remark and 
changed the conversation, which drifted into pleas- 
anter waters. 

Olga meanwhile walked on with a happy expression 
of countenance, which caused a student who met her 
to observe, ‘What has happened to make Olga Arthur- 
ovna look so gay at such a time as the present ? * 

‘I am not gay, Ivan Ivanovitch [John, son of 
John],’ she replied; ‘I am only pleased that I have 
found a sympathetic friend in a young English girl.’ 

The young man shrugged his shoulders. ‘ The 


156 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


English sympathise with a desire for freedom, but 
they go no farther. Be careful what you say to 
your young friend, Olga Arthurovna.' 

‘ Oh yes, I shall have to be careful, for her father 
has forbidden her to talk of politics. He is afraid of 
her getting mixed up with revolutionaries ; ' and then 
they both laughed. 

‘I thought so. She will sympathise, but that 
is all. They are a just race, but a selfish one ; you 
will not find them dying for an ideal.' 

‘They would die for freedom or their country — 
witness their wars,' said Olga, who had an admiration 
for the English. 

‘ Their own country perhaps, though I am not sure 
of that — not other people’s. However, I have other 
things to talk to you about than any English persons, 
but not here.' He looked round cautiously, and added, 
‘ Meet me in ten minutes at the Gostinnitsa Anglitza.' 

‘Not at the usual place ?' questioned Olga. 

‘ No ; it is no longer safe ; we have been watched,' 
replied Ivan Ivanovitch. 

Olga nodded and left her acquaintance, who turned 
down another street to the left, and she went into a 
house in the next street to the right, whence she did 
not emerge until it was dark. On the stairs she saw 
another student standing in a lounging attitude, who 
shook hands with her and made an almost imper- 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


157 


ceptible sign towards the left, and Olga, turning down 
a passage, saw a door with a tiny mark on it. 
She immediately touched the electric bell, and almost 
before she had taken her finger off again the door was 
opened a little, and at the sight of her thrown open 
far enough for her to go in, and then as swiftly shut. 

Once she was inside the air of mystery disappeared ; 
neither in the faces of the occupants of the room 
nor in the room was there anything to distinguish 
the assemblage from an ordinary social gathering. 
On chairs and lounges sat about a dozen young men 
and women with intelligent faces, grave like most 
Russians, but open and not unpleasant to look upon. 

The conversation stopped when Olga Poltiskoff 
entered, and those present all rose from their seats, 
while the young men came forward and shook hands. 

‘It is cold, Olga Arthurovna,’ they said. ‘You 
have walked ? I hope you did not go to the wrong 
place ? ' 

‘ No ; I met Ivan Ivanovitch, who told me to come 
here. It was fortunate that I did so, or I should have 
gone to our usual meeting-place.' 

‘But he was there purposely to prevent that; he 
will follow you shortly, I hope. We were waiting for 
your coming to begin the meeting. We have news.' 

Then, it is true, the faces grew graver, and when 
Ivan Ivanovitch's ring came to the door more than 


158 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


one started, and all looked anxiously towards the 
door, and on seeing who it was showed a relief which 
told of overstrained nerves. 

The door of the room was not shut, as one would 
have supposed prudent if, as was evident, private 
affairs were to be discussed, but was left open, and 
one of the party stood at the door in such a manner 
that he could see both ways and hear any one ap- 
proaching — which, after all, was the wiser plan. 

The others gathered round the table in the middle 
of the room, and a young woman, who was evidently 
the leading spirit of the assembly, began to speak in 
low tones, which, however, were clearly heard by all 
present. ‘Great news, my friends, from the central 
committee, and great things have been decided upon, 
here in Moscow ’ 

She got no further. A step came up the stairs, and 
the young man who had been lounging at the door 
burst in. ‘ The police ! * he gasped, and threw himself 
into a chair. 

Without a change of voice the same girl continued 
her speech — ‘Napoleon’s defeat is often erroneously 
stated by historians, especially French writers, to be 
due to the inclemency of the climate; but it is not 
true. The reason that the Emperor of the French, the 
invincible Napoleon, was obliged to vacate Moscow 
was that the patriotic Muscovites of that day preferred 




4 


4 


0 . 



t 


I 


1 

• ^ 

» 



« 

I 

» 





t 


I 



Without hesitation or surprise the girl gave up the sheaf of papers. 

Page 159. 


S.M. 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


159 


to sacrifice their beautiful city — their Mother Moscow 
— and all their worldly goods by fire, rather than give 
shelter to the invaders/ 

The secret agents of the police stood still for a 
minute listening to the essay which the young woman 
was reading aloud to an apparently interested audi- 
ence, many of whom sat with their heads stretched 
forward and eyes fixed upon the speaker’s face as she 
continued her discourse with steady, even voice, speak- 
ing in clear tones. 

Only when she came to the end of her sentence did 
she look up, and, seeing the intruders, stop short and 
look at them, seeming to demand an explanation of 
their presence. 

One of the men came forward, and politely but 
firmly demanded the document from which she had 
been reading, as well as all the papers she had about 
her person. Without hesitation or surprise the girl 
gave up the sheaf of papers she had in her hand, 
saying at the same time, ‘ It is my essay for the history 
professor ; it should be handed up to-morrow. Shall 
I be able to have it back by then ? ’ 

‘That depends upon the nature of the contents, 
harinia [miss]/ replied the foremost of the intruders 
gravely, as he examined her pocket-book and felt in 
her pocket. 

Not a smile nor a frown betrayed any feeling on 


160 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


the part of the girl at the taking of these liberties or 
their failure of results, for nothing of an incriminating 
character was found in either receptacle. 

Two or three of the students present were treated 
to the same examination, with the same result — 
nothing was found in the shape of revolutionary 
literature. 

‘Ladies and gentlemen, the meeting is dispersed,’ 
said the head-policeman. 

In a moment one of the youths, who wore a red tie 
or scarf in place of a collar, rose and said impetuously, 
‘ On what grounds ? May we not meet to discuss 

literature’ But before he had gone very far 

a hand was laid upon his arm, and he saw Olga 
PoltiskofF looking warningly into his face, and was 
silent. 

Without further protests, the party, with knit brows, 
left the room and went silently down the stairs and 
out into the almost deserted street, there to disperse 
to their respective homes. 

Olga Poltiskoff and Ivan Ivanovitch walked along 
together as quickly as they could. ‘ It is cold,’ said 
the young man ; ‘ I should not be surprised if we had 
a heavy fall of snow.’ 

‘Yes, it is cold and the wind is cutting, but while it 
lasts we shall not have snow; it is not from the 
direction.’ 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


161 


* It was this wind which discouraged Napoleon ; it 
froze his army/ observed her companion. 

‘ We have just been told that it was not so/ replied 
Olga. 

The other gave a short laugh, out of which he could 
not manage to keep some bitterness. * Yes/ he said, 
‘ we were told that ’ 

Olga gave him another warning glance. ‘ Are you 
going to the lecture to-morrow ? Professor Koetz is 
very interesting.* 

‘Yes, I shall be there. He has always something to 
say worth hearing.* 

Then they came to the Grand Place, and Olga 
stopped short. ‘ I turn up here,* she said. ‘ Perhaps 
it is not your way ? * 

‘ No,* replied the other ; ‘ but * 

‘Then I will say good-bye,* broke in Olga; and 
shaking hands, the two parted without another word, 
no mention having been made of the events of the 
last hour, nor any reference having been made to any 
future meeting except that of the lecture next day. 

Probably if the other young people who had been 
present at the meeting had been followed they would 
have been found to have held equally interesting 
discourse, which was listened to grimly by the spies 
who dogged their footsteps, and were not a whit 
deceived by their innocence. 

S.M. K 


162 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


When her companion left her Olga hailed a droshky, 
and after the usual farce of bargaining with the driver, 
jumped in and was driven rapidly home. 

‘ Where have you been, Olga ? ’ inquired her mother 
with an anxious air. * It is very late, and you must 
be cold ; you have been out for hours. I expected 
you home to tea with Nina Hamilton.* 

‘I have been to a meeting of the Higher Culture 
Association,’ replied Olga. 

But her mother’s brows did not clear. * It is against 
our wish — your father’s and mine — that you pursue 
these studies so arduously, and you know that it is 
dangerous, Olga.* 

‘ Mamma, the word danger does not act as a deter- 
rent upon me, so long as I do what is my duty to my 
country * 

But Madame Poltiskoff held up her hands to ward 
off the words. ‘I will hear no more, Olga. It will 
mean banishment to Western Europe for both of 
us if you persist; your father is determined about 
that.* 

"Mamma, when you talk like that, as if the one 
object of life was to think of one’s self, and what is for 
one’s own personal comfort and ease of mind, and as 
if I were a child to be carried off hither and thither 
against my will, you tempt me to do something 
desperate I * cried Olga passionately. 


OLGA ARTHUROVNA. 


163 


* Oh Olga, you break my heart when you say such 
things ! Do something desperate ’ 

*I do not mean any crime — that is to say, any- 
thing which you consider a crime; so do not be 
afraid.’ 

‘ I hope we both have the same ideas of crime,’ said 
her mother gravely ; ‘ there are not two views of that. 
But,’ she added hastily as she saw that her elder 
daughter was preparing to argue the point, ‘ I do not 
wish to talk about that. Come and have some tea ; 
the samovar is on the table, and you must be chilled 
after being so long in the cold.’ 

As a matter of fact Olga was cold, and was glad 
to accept her mother’s offer of tea, which she drank 
Russian fashion — very weak, without milk, but with 
a slice of lemon floating in it. And as Mr Poltiskoff 
came in shortly after, no conversation on dangerous 
subjects was possible. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS, 

HEN the sledge stopped at the door, Nina, 



who was full of the conversation she had 


had with Olga Poltiskoff, had jumped out, and at 
Olga's bidding run ‘quickly into the house out of 
the bitter cold,' without stopping to shake hands 
with Nathalia, which was a ceremony that is seldom 
left out in Russia, and she did not think of this until 
she was hurrying upstairs, and the remembrance of 
Nathalia's surprised and disappointed face came back 
to her, when she thought that she had rather neg- 
lected her friend. 

Anna, who was following her young mistress as 
quickly as she could, remarked, ‘ Miss Nina, why have 
we come home ? ' 

‘Come home? Why, what do you mean? Why 
should we not come home ? ' inquired Nina. 

‘ Because Madame — I can't say her name, but Miss 
Nathalia’s mamma had invited us to go there to tea. 
Miss Nathalia had just told me that when we came 
up to the door, and she wondered why her sister had 
brought us here.’ 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


165 


‘ Oh/ said Nina, ‘ I did not know that. Well, I don’t 
know that I am sorry that we have come straight 
back, for I have had enough excitement for to-day.’ 

‘ Excitement, miss ? Why, whatever excitement 
have you had ? Not this afternoon, I should think ! 
You don’t call seeing an old gentleman dipping a 
cross into a hole in the ice of the river exciting? 
There wasn’t any danger even.’ 

Nina laughed. ‘ Did you wish that there should be 
danger, Anna ? I’m sure I didn’t want to see them 
all suddenly struggling in the water.’ 

‘ I never said that, miss ; I only meant that it would 
have been exciting if the ice had given way — not that 
it was likely. I wonder there was any water in the 
river at all; I’m sure it has been cold enough to 
freeze it down to the very bottom.’ 

Nina laughed. ‘If there was no danger of that, 
there was danger of our having our noses frozen off, 
and it was better to lose a tea-party than our noses,’ 
she observed. 

‘My, miss, don’t talk of such a dreadful thing!’ 
exclaimed Anna. ‘ I declare, I think it is caught I ’ she 
added, putting her hand up to her nose and feeling it 
anxiously. 

‘ What nonsense, Anna ! That only shows the force 
of imagination. Your nose is quite red and alive,’ 
declared Nina; ‘and you can’t see the blessing of the 


166 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


waters every day, so it ’s worth while bearing a little 
cold for that.’ 

" Do you know, Miss Nina,’ said Anna impressively, 

‘ I shall never complain about our fogs when we get 
home — if,’ she added as an afterthought, ‘we ever 
do get home again — because I shall know that there 
are worse climates than ours and worse things than 
fogs.’ 

‘What is the matter? What has happened that 
is worse than a fog ? ’ inquired Miss Hamilton, who 
chanced to be in the entrance-hall as the two came 
in and overheard them talking. ‘I hope you have 
not had any unpleasant experience ? ’ 

‘ Oh no. Aunt Pen ; we have had a very interesting 
afternoon. The blessing of the waters is a very pretty 
sight. Such a lot of men in uniform ; I believe every 
Russian gentleman has a uniform for something or 
other. Anna is only complaining about the cold, and I 
really don’t see why she should be so nervous of losing 
her nose, because it is not such a very pretty one.’ 

‘It’s better than none at all. Miss Nina,’ observed 
Anna rather huflfily. 

‘ You could have a new false one of a much better 
shape if this one was frozen off,’ said Nina mischiev- 
ously, as, having divested herself of her furs in the 
hall, she followed her aunt into the dining-room, where 
her father was. 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 167 

‘ Come along, Nina, and get warm,' said Mr Hamilton. 
‘Dear, dear! that's the force of habit; I was just 
going to say, “ Come to the fire." You must be glad 
to be back.' 

‘We are. It's funny how one does miss a fire. 
But it was worth it. And, oh, papa, I do like Olga 1 
She is so interesting to talk to, and she does not treat 
one as if one was a child, but talks sense, and I had 
such an interesting conversation with her.' 

Mr Hamilton looked up sharply. ‘ Indeed ! What 
about, may I ask ? ' 

‘ About the peasants and Russian life,' replied Nina, 
surprised at the tone. 

But Mr Hamilton did not look satisfied. ‘ What does 
Miss Olga know about the peasants’ life ? ’ he inquired. 

‘ A very great deal ; and she is going to take me to 
see them,’ replied Nina. 

‘Them? Whom? You can’t go visiting peasants, 
Nina; I absolutely forbid it. In the first place, you 
could not go into their houses — they are too dirty; 
and in the second place, it is not safe.’ 

‘ Oh, Olga is only going to take me to people that 
she knows,' said Nina. ‘It's all right; there is no 
danger. They are quite nice people — only very poor.' 

‘I won’t have it; you will get yourself into trouble. 
The authorities do not approve of people like Olga 
Arthurovna visiting among the poor.' 


168 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


‘ But we are only going to do them good and take 
them things ; and Olga says I ought to see with my 
own eyes how the poor live in Moscow, so that I may 
tell the English when I get hack.* 

‘ I quite agree with Olga,’ said Miss Hamilton. ‘ I 
should like to go and visit them myself, only as I do 
not know a word of Russian I should not be of very 
much use ; but I am glad to hear that Nina is having 
some sensible ideas put into her.’ 

Mr Hamilton looked helplessly at his sister. ‘ But 
I tell you,’ he said, ‘that the authorities look with 
suspicion on people visiting and trying to relieve 
them.’ 

‘They look with suspicion upon everything and 
everybody,’ remarked Miss Hamilton calmly ; ‘ and if 
I hear of any poor persons in need I shall certainly 
relieve them, and I presume the Consul will protect 
me from interference if you cannot.’ 

‘Very good,’ said Mr Hamilton testily; ‘go to the 
Consul and see what he says when you inform him 
what advice you have been giving to Nina ; ’ and he 
took up the English paper which had just arrived, 
the condition of which had probably contributed to 
his irritation, for whole paragraphs were blacked out, 
and Mr Hamilton gave the newspaper an impatient 
shake, and pished and pshawed so vehemently that 
Nina asked him if there was bad news from England. 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


169 


‘ Don’t know, I ’m sure. There may be, for aught I 
know ; but as the Post-Office officials have not thought 
proper to let the news pass in, I can’t say anything 
about it.’ 

Nina came and stood behind her father to see what 
he meant, and putting her arm round his shoulder, 
looked over it. ‘ What on earth have they been 
doing to the paper ? ’ she asked in amazement as she 
saw large square patches of black where there should 
have been printing. ‘ Oh, I wish they had not made 
such a mess of this bit ; it ’s most interesting ! ’ she 
exclaimed, as she pointed to a paragraph headed 
‘ Scene in a Girls’ School in Russia,’ which was entirely 
blacked out. 

‘ Tut ! that is only nonsense. But there are some 
speeches in Parliament about the King coming to 
Russia which are interesting, and here they are all 
suppressed. However, I shall send for them, so it is 
only a matter of time,’ replied her father. 

‘ But they will do the same next time — won’t they, 
papa ? So what ’s the good ? ’ 

Mr Hamilton wagged his head knowingly. ‘ I shall 
ask your uncle to send me these paragraphs in a 
letter. With the best will in the world, they can’t 
open all the letters that arrive, and I have so many 
business ones from him that it is a hundred chances 
to one that they open one of them ; in fact, I think I 


170 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


shall tell him to post anything of interest in that 
way.* 

Nina laughed. ‘You see, papa, that you are just 
as much annoyed with the authorities as the revolu- 
tionaries. I expect you would be one yourself if you 
were a Russian ! * 

‘ As I am an Englishman and only here for a short 
time, we need not consider the question,* observed her 
father. ‘ And now, to change the conversation, tell me 
what you saw this afternoon. I thought you would 
come home full of the interesting sight you had seen, 
and, lo and behold ! you talk of something quite 
different.* 

‘ I suppose that is because it was the last thing I 
did, and, as Anna says, there was nothing very 
wonderful in seeing an old gentleman dipping a 
cross in a hole in the ice of the river,* observed 
Nina. 

‘ An old gentleman dipping a cross in a hole ? * 
echoed Mr Hamilton, horrified. ‘ Is that the way you 
talk of the impressive ceremony of this afternoon ? 
Truly do they say that the rising generation have no 
reverence in them. Were there not many officials 
and soldiers there, as well as the old Archbishop ? * 

‘Oh yes — any amount; and it really was very 
pretty. But I think I should have enjoyed the sight 
more if it had not been so cold. I can’t think how 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 171 

those men could stand with their hats off in such 
bitter weather.' 

' They had some sense of reverence/ said her father 
pointedly. 

Nina only laughed. * It 's no good your hitting at 
me, papa. I didn’t feel a bit impressed; I expect 
my feelings were frozen. I liked the service in the 
Strasnoi Monastere, where they have no organ, and 
only voices singing like seraphs, much better. Why 
don’t they have an organ ? Can’t they afford it ? ’ 

Mr Hamilton looked amused. ‘I am glad some- 
thing impressed you. No, it is not poverty that 
prevents them having instrumental music in the 
Strasnoi Monastere; it is not the custom to have 
organs in the Greek Church ; and, I am sure, one does 
not miss it in these churches.’ 

‘ One doesn’t miss anything after a little time. Do 
you know, I don’t miss the High School a bit ! Isn’t 
it awful ? ’ inquired Nina. 

‘ On the contrary, I think it is a very good thing. 
I was half-afraid we should have tears and lamenta- 
tions when you realised that you were here for 
the next two years ; but you seem to have shaken 
down in a wonderful manner. I only hope it will 
last.’ 

‘What do you hope will last, papa? My liking 
Russians ? Because that, I am sure, I shall ; we are 


172 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


quite in sympathy — Olga and I, at all events; and 
the girls at the Gymnase are all nice.* 

Mr Hamilton made no comment upon this sweep- 
ing statement, which, as there were over five hun- 
dred girls at the school, he thought would probably 
be modified before long; and Nina gave him no 
time, if he so desired, to warn her against expecting 
everything to go on so swimmingly, for she suddenly 
said, ‘ I really must go up and put on thin clothes. — 
Aunt Pen, you do keep these rooms so hot ; one can’t 
stand anything but muslin or silk.’ 

‘I have nothing to do with it,’ protested Miss 
Hamilton ; ‘ the same furnace heats the whole street, 
as far as I can make out, and I cannot order it to be 
kept low to suit us.’ 

As a matter of fact, the furnace only heated that 
block of buildings of which Mr Hamilton’s formed 
part. But it was quite true that Miss Hamilton had in 
vain tried to make her rooms cooler ; the only way was 
by turning off all the heat or by opening the windows, 
and even she found that they could only be opened 
for a minute at a time, unless she wanted everything 
to be frozen. 

Nina ran along the passage to her room, and ring- 
ing for Anna, told her to get out a thin blouse. * One 
of my summer ones — the very coolest you can find, 
please. I ’m simply boiling hot.’ 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


173 


* That ’s with coming in out of the cold suddenly/ 
replied Anna. ‘ One ought not to do it, I ’m sure.’ 

' Pray how would you come in — by degrees ? One 
foot first, and when it was warm, the other, and so 
on?' inquired Nina. * We might try it next time we 
come home from a walk.' 

‘ I don’t mean any such silly thing, Miss Ernestina. 
But I do think it must be bad for a body to be nearly 
frozen to death, and then come into a heat like this,’ 
objected Anna. 

But Nina did not reply; and Anna, seeing that 
her young mistress seemed to be in a brown study, 
quietly left the room. 

Nina stood where Anna had left her when she had 
fastened up her blouse, and then moved slowly to the 
window, where she stood looking out, a grave 
expression on her face, which made her seem older 
than her years. She did not seem to see what was 
passing before her eyes, until a carriage containing 
two gentlemen came in sight, and attracted her 
attention by the fact that it was surrounded by 
soldiers with bayonets fixed. Nina gave vent to an 
exclamation of pity. Of course they were political 
prisoners, and Nina said, ‘Poor men 1’ without know- 
ing in the least whether they were worthy of pity 
or not. 

She was just looking after them, when Anna 


174 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


hurried into the room, saying, ‘ Oh miss, have you seen 
them ? Isn’t it awful ? I am glad they ’re caught. 
I declare one isn’t safe in this country. But fancy 
there being no crowd to follow them like there would 
be in England, howling and shrieking round them ! 
But there, I suppose they don’t think anything of life 
being taken in this town ! ’ 

‘What are you talking about, Anna? Who is 
taking life ? Do you mean that those two gentlemen 
are going to be hanged, or what ? ’ inquired Nina. 

‘ I should hope they will be. Miss Nina, seeing that 
they’ve killed a man in the open streets, and him 
with his back turned, poor fellow ! so that he could 
not defend himself or anything. Shocking, I call it ! ’ 

‘ How did you hear all this, Anna ? ’ demanded Nina. 

‘ Why, the mistress has just told me. She was talk- 
ing about it — the murder, I mean, of a gentleman in 
a street quite near here, just because he wrote a 
newspaper that they didn’t like, and those two up 
and shot him — a political murder, the mistress called 
it ; and who should go past at the minute but those 
two villains, and I hope they will be hung.’ 

‘ You don’t know that they are the two who com- 
mitted the murder at all,’ said Nina. ‘ I don’t believe 
they did; they did not look as if they would do a 
mean thing like that.’ 

* That young one had no shame, anyhow ; he looked 


MISS HAMILTON HAS VIEWS. 


175 


all round him without seeming to mind being a prisoner 
at all, but might have been taking a drive round 
Moscow. Regularly callous, that ’s what he was.* 
‘You should not talk of what you know nothing 
about. I dare say those two gentlemen had done no 
more than attend a meeting which the Government 
did not approve of; and considering that you have 
been a prisoner walking between two policemen your- 
self, I wonder you talk so unkindly about other 
people in the same trouble ! * 

Anna’s face fell, and she became tearful. ‘ I hope 
you aren’t comparing me to a real prisoner. Miss Nina ; 
and seeing that it was for your sake that I came 
at all, I think you need not cast up such dreadful 
things to me ! ’ and here Anna began to cry, and Nina 
relented and tried to comfort and console her. 

‘ After all, Anna, it does not matter in this country. 
It’s not being a prisoner to be marched along like 
that ; it ’s only a custom of the country.’ 

Anna gave a sniff expressive of her disapproval of 
such customs, but did not argue the point with Nina, 
who, she saw, was in a contradictory mood. 


CHAPTER XV. 


THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 

S O rapid was the progress made by Nina Hamil- 
ton in the Russian language that her 'class- 
dame ’ came to her one morning and told her that she 
was to take her books and writing materials and 
satchel into a higher class. 

'Into the same class as Nathalia Poltiskoff?’ in- 
quired Nina eagerly. It did not strike her that such 
a question was a liberty; but the lady addressed 
looked at her 'as if she was not pleased at some- 
thing/ as Nina said afterwards to Nathalia, and did 
not reply. 

However, it was into Nathalia’s class that she was 
put for the next hour, and the two were congratu- 
lating themselves upon the happy change when 
recreation came. 

‘This afternoon there is a dressmaking class. I 
suppose that you will be allowed to join it now 
that you are in our class, and perhaps you will be 
able to help me with my machining ; it is an English 
sewing-machine, and I can’t gather and sew a frill 
on at the same time/ observed Nathalia. 


THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 177 

‘I should think not. Who could ? ’ cried Nina, who 
had never worked a machine in her life. 

‘ Oh, but you are supposed to be able to do it, and 
it saves a lot of trouble. I am making myself a 
party frock, and it has such a number of little 
frills ; I thought, of course, that you would be able 
to help me,’ said Nathalia in a tone of disappoint- 
ment. 

‘ You had better come in and talk to Anna about 
that; she does all my sewing, and has a Singer’s 
sewing-machine, if that is what you mean by an 
English machine ; though, as a matter of fact, it is of 
American origin.’ 

‘ Thank you ; I will. I shall lose some time if I have 
to ask our instructress in class,’ said Nathalia ; and 
then the bell rang, and motioning to Nina to follow 
her, she took her place in the ranks, and the girls filed 
out of the long recreation-hall, curtsying as they passed 
the teachers, who stood at the door. 

As Nina came up to them, a tall, grave teacher, 
whom she had never noticed before, stepped forward 
and made a sign to the English girl to fall out of the 
ranks. 

Nina’s first idea was that she had not made a 
proper reverence, and she stood, with heightened colour, 
waiting until the girls had passed ; but when the next 

class came up, the same teacher made another sign tQ 

S.M. Xj 


178 THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES, 

Nina that she was to fall in among them. Wondering 
greatly, Nina did as she was told, and followed the 
girl in front of her into a new classroom quite in 
another part of the building. The class was French, 
and Nina found she could follow fairly well, as 
it was conducted in French, and the girls were 
about as advanced as she was, although they were 
younger. 

It seemed a very long morning to Nina, who 
wanted an explanation of why she was being moved 
about like this, and she thought three o’clock would 
never come. No sooner was the signal given for the 
class to stand than Nina was up, her books all packed 
into her satchel, ready to go ; but as they stood there 
the teacher turned to the ‘ class-dame,’ as if waiting 
for her to say something, bowed, and left the room ; 
and the ' class-dame,’ taking her place, said to Nina in 
English, ‘ Wait after the others have gone ; I wish to 
speak to you.’ Then she said good-afternoon in 
Russian, and the children walked out of the classroom, 
leaving Nina standing in her place, feeling, she did 
not know why, very uncomfortable — as if something 
were wrong. 

However, the ‘class-dame’ called Nina up to her 
desk, and asked her, pleasantly enough, whether she 
thought she could follow the classes, as, if so, she was 
to stay with her. 


THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 179 

‘ Oh yes, thank you ; and so I could in the other 
class they put me into this morning,’ replied 
Nina. 

‘ That is well, then,’ remarked the ‘ class-dame,’ ‘ for 
I shall be very glad to keep you in my class. You 
must always tell me of any difficulties you find, 
either in following the lessons or in understanding 
our country, which must seem very strange to an 
English girl.’ 

‘ Oh no, indeed, it does not ; I feel quite at home 
already. I get on so well with Russian girls that I 
understand them just as if they were English.’ 

The lady shook her head. ‘ It is a little early to 
speak so confidently ; I am afraid that you will find 
out your mistake ; and if so, I hope you will come to 
me. Remember, I shall be watching you anxiously, 
and shall be interested in hearing your impressions 
of our life here; so you must come and tell me all 
you think about your schoolfellows.’ 

Nina was rather puzzled by this speech, which she 
did not at all understand, and she might with truth 
have replied that, at any rate, she did not feel at 
home with her ‘class-lady,’ but she only answered, 
‘Thank you.’ 

Then Mademoiselle Schichkine, with a friendly 
shake of the hand, dismissed her pupil. 

No sooner was she out of the classroom than Nina 


180 THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 

ran swiftly along the wide corridor and down the two 
flights of stairs to the upper-school cloakroom, where 
she hoped to find Nathalia PoltiskofF ; but the room 
was empty, and looking at her watch, she saw that it 
was nearly half-past three. 

Nina was rather surprised that Nathalia had not 
waited for her, as it was an understood thing that 
they should always walk home together, for otherwise 
Miss Hamiltom had said she must send Anna to fetch 
her, as she was sure that Nina would lose her way ; in 
fact, Nathalia had promised always to take Nina to 
and bring her back from the Gymnase, and Nina had 
promised never to walk home alone, and if anything 
happened to prevent Nathalia coming home with her 
to take a droshky. Consequently this afternoon, 
when she found that Nathalia was gone, she was in 
great perplexity. On the two occasions that Nathalia 
had not been able for some reason or other to accom- 
pany her home, she had at least been able to put her 
into a droshky, and Nina had never yet had to call a 
carriage for herself. So she went to the school-porter 
and tried to make him understand what she wanted ; 
but unfortunately she and Nathalia had always used 
the German word for a carriage, and Nina could not 
remember what the Russian for sledge was ; so, despair- 
ing of making the man understand her, she started 
off to walk. What was her surprise and relief outside 


THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 181 

the school to find Nathalia walking briskly towards 
her ! 

‘ Oh Nathalia, where have you been ? ’ cried Nina. 

‘ Where have I been ? Where have you been ? you 
mean. I have been walking to the Strasnoi boule- 
vard and back for the last half-hour; and if I am 
noseless, I shall have you to thank for the mis- 
fortune ! ’ 

‘You will have Mademoiselle Schichkine to thank, 
for she kept me,’ retorted Nina ‘I thought she was 
never going to let me go, and I am sure I do not 
know what she kept me for; she had not anything 
very important to say — in fact, she seemed to be 
talking for the sake of politeness.’ 

‘I know what she kept you for,’ said Nathalia 
gravely. 

‘ Then you know more than I do, for she did not 
tell me,’ said Nina. 

‘She kept you for the same reason that she put 
you into her class — just to separate you from me, and 
stop our friendship,’ replied Nathalia. 

Nina stood still in the street for a moment in her 
astonishment. ‘ Why ? What on earth should she do 
that for ? ’ cried she. 

Nathalia shrugged her shoulders. ‘They do not 
approve of the friendship.’ 

‘But why not? We do not get into mischief or 


182 THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 

disobey rules or anything. What reason can they 
have for disapproving ? ’ the girl objected. 

Nathalia did not reply to this question, but re- 
marked, ‘Look, Nina, there is a carriage with a holy 
picture in it. See — that one with four horses abreast 
and the coachmen without hats — look, quick ! You 
said you wanted to see such a sight, and now 
you are not taking any notice.* 

‘Yes, I am,’ replied Nina rather impatiently. ‘I 
see two popes — you call the priests popes, don’t 
you? — inside, holding a picture on their knees, and 
a little boy in a surplice. But you have not 
answered my question. Why should they object to 
our being friends ? ’ 

‘You will not like it, perhaps, if I say why,’ 
answered Nathalia, hesitating. 

‘I do not like their objecting at all, but I shall 
imagine all sorts of horrid reasons if you do not tell 
me the true one. Why do they object, Nathalia? 
You may just as well tell me at once, because I 
mean to know. I don’t see why I should be shunted 
about from one class to another as if I were a 
naughty girl and must be put where I can do least 
mischief.’ 

‘ That is just it ; they think we may do mischief 
if we get together,’ explained Nathalia, taking up the 
word ‘mischief.’ 


THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 183 

‘ So I suppose. But why should they think so ; and 
how did you know that they do think so ? ' persisted 
Nina. 

‘ Because they kept you behind me this afternoon, 
and a message was sent down to me that I was not 
to wait for you as you would be some time,’ said 
Nathalia. 

Nina was far too quick not to see that Nathalia 
had only answered half her question, and she was 
determined not to be put off so. ‘Nathalia,’ she 
cried, ‘will you answer me or not? Because if you 
do not, I shall go straight to the directress and 
ask her.’ 

‘Pray do not think of doing such a thing. They 
V would simply order you to leave the school, and they 
would not answer your question,’ cried Nathalia in 
great alarm. 

‘ Then, if you do not want me to be ordered to 
leave the school, tell me yourself why they object to 
my being friends with you. No one ever objected 
to me before. At the High School in England they 
alway let me be friends with whom I liked, and the 
head-mistress often told me to be kind to some new 
girl,’ said Nina in a hurt tone, for this new experience 
was very galling to her. 

Nathalia saw that she was hurt and would not be 
satisfied until she had some explanation, so the Russian 


184 THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 

girl said reluctantly, ‘ It is only because of your going 
out with Olga. It is not my fault, Nina ; I told them 
you did not know where you were going,’ she added 
hastily. 

But Nina was very angry indeed. ‘ What business 
had you to talk about me, or where I go with your 
sister ? ’ she cried furiously. ‘ And how did you know 
that I went out with her, or where I was going ? 
Who told you ? ’ 

Nathalia looked hurt in her turn. ‘ I heard Olga 
ask you to go out with her the day of the blessing of 
the waters, and I heard her tell mamma that she had 
been out with you yesterday. That is all I know, 
or want to know, about your doings,’ she answered 
coldly. 

But Nina was not appeased. ‘ Then why did you 
say just now that you had told the teachers that I 
did not know where I was going if you did not know 
anything about it ? ’ she inquired suspiciously. 

But Nina got no answer to her question, unless the 
bursting into tears can be called an answer. 

Nina was melted at once and rather embarrassed, 
and tried her best to comfort Nathalia. Nathalia 
sobbed bitterly, and Nina could only make her stop 
by talking of something else, so the question that 
Nina asked was not answered after all; and by the 
time the two had arrived at Nina’s home Nathalia 


THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 185 

was full of the help Anna was going to give her with 
her machining. 

^ Run a frill on and gather it at the same time ? ’ 
exclaimed Anna. ‘ Well, to tell you the truth, miss, I 
can’t. I believe there are some funny little bits of 
steel in my machine-box to do all sorts of work with, 
but I don’t know how they are used, and when I have 
a frill to put on I gather it and baste it on to the 
material first. I don’t believe in these newfangled 
notions.’ 

‘Moral: if you want to know how to work an 
English sewing-machine, you must go to a Russian 
schoolgirl, not to an English sewing-maid,’ observed 
Nina, as she took Nathalia by the arm and left Anna 
to her sewing. 

As she could get no help from Anna, Nathalia said 
she must hurry home and have her dinner, so as to 
be back at the Gj^^mnase in time for the dressmaking 
class. 

Nina said good-bye with a certain sense of relief ; 
she felt irritated by the occurrences of the day and 
wanted to be alone ; and she also wanted her dinner, 
for it was nearly four o’clock, and she had only had a 
cup of tea and some biscuits since breakfast. 

‘I really cannot have such irregularity as this, 
Nina,’ announced Miss Hamilton when Nina, having 
escorted Nathalia down to the door, ran up again to 


186 THE WAYS OF RUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 

the dining-room to have dinner. ‘Here it is past 
four o’clock, and your dinner was ready for you at a 
quarter-past three ; I wonder you are not hungry.’ 

‘ I am dreadfully hungry ; but my “ class-dame,” as 
they call her, kept me for half-an-hour to-day talking 
about goodness knows what, and very nearly made 
me come home alone. I wish you would write and 
tell her that you wish me to go and come with 
Nathalia,’ replied Nina. 

‘Your father ought to do that; but he does not 
seem to care about it. He does not like the Poltiskoff 
girls, for some reason ; at least, he did not want us to 
invite Nathalia to stay to dinner just now.* 

Nina sighed impatiently, and remarked, as she ate 
her soup, ‘ People are very irritating.’ 

‘ My dear, you ought not to talk of your father like 
that,’ remonstrated Miss Hamilton, who, however she 
might criticise her brother, did not allow her niece to 
do so. 

Nina said no more ; she did not want to talk, and 
she was thinking of Nathalia’s information that 
Mademoiselle Schichkine had disapproved of her 
going out with Olga Poltiskoff. The expedition had 
simply been to an old peasant-woman, who came to 
Moscow with her daughter during the winter to earn 
money by the making of little, rough wooden toys, 
and who was very poor. ‘ If they object to that, they 


THE WAYS OF KUSSIAN SCHOOLMISTRESSES. 187 

will object to anything/ thought Nina, and she again 
remarked to herself that ‘ people were very irritating.’ 

As she sat there eating her dinner she had serious 
thoughts of going straight to the directress or some 
other authority and telling her what the expedition 
had really been, but reflected that she was not 
supposed to know why she had been changed from 
one class to another, and that Nathalia had warned 
her not to say anything about anything or else she 
would be requested to leave. And she felt that, after 
all, she had no business to question any act of her 
superiors — at any rate, not in Moscow. 

So next morning, when Nathalia did not come, she 
said nothing when Anna put on her furs and took 
her to school; but she firmly made up her mind to 
circumvent the authorities both at home and school. 
* They will see what is the result of treating me like a 
child and preventing me from seeing my best friend/ 
she muttered, and she kept her resolve with results 
that will appear later on. 


CHAPTER XVL 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 

I T is to be feared that Anna had not a very plea- 
sant walk to the Gymnase that morning with 
Nina, who not only wanted to be with her friend 
Nathalia, but was also irritated at being sent off like 
this without any explanation. 

‘If papa is going to get like the Russians and 
become tyrannical, I shall not feel obliged to obey 
him blindly,’ said Nina with a toss of her head. 

Anna, who had just remarked that there seemed to 
be a good many beggars about this morning, thought 
it was in answer to this remark that Nina had given 
her head that contemptuous shake, and added, ‘ Well, 
that’s what I feel, miss. Take no notice; they’re 
just lazy, good-for-nothing folk who won’t work, so 
don’t deserve to live. — Get off ! Neet ! neet ! ’ she cried 
to a persistent beggar who was walking alongside of 
them and holding out his hand as he said something 
in a plaintive whine. 

The man understood the word neet ('no’), and 
slunk away. 

Nina turned indignantly upon the maid. ‘What 
did you do that for ? Poor man ! What do you 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 


189 


suppose he could work at in weather like this? 
Next time a beggar comes give him a penny.’ 

Anna said nothing; and at that moment another 
beggar, coming up from a side-street, who had not seen 
the rebuff to his fellow-beggar, asked for alms. So 
Anna, anxious to propitiate Nina, gave him a penny, 
as she imagined. As a matter of fact it was more 
than an English penny, and wealth to the poor man, 
who went off rapidly, invoking blessings in poetical 
language — if Anna had but known it — on her head. 

But, alas ! he sped off to tell his confreres ; and 
before Nina and Anna got very far no less than 
forty beggars had arrived, one after the other, or two 
and three together, to get alms from the generous 
foreigners. 

‘There, miss!’ exclaimed Anna, half in fright, for 
the men did look so wild and shaggy in their dirty 
and disreputable fur caps and coats, and with hands 
almost black with grime ; ‘ now what are we to do ? I 
haven’t got any more money, and I can’t tell them 
that. Oh my ! ’ 

This last exclamation was real terror, for several 
poor wretches had crowded round the two, who could 
neither relieve them nor get on themselves, and 
the situation was beginning to become rather em- 
barrassing. 

Afterwards Nina used to say that these beggars 


190 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 


were the cause of ‘ everything/ because if she had not 
been really at her wits’ end, and thankful to see any 
one who would help her out of her difficulty, she 
would not have made the acquaintance which was the 
cause of events that had a great influence on Nina’s 
future. 

But, just as it happened, when Nina was feeling 
angrily that this was the result of her father attend- 
ing to silly people, and forbidding her to go to school 
with Nathalia, who would not have allowed her to 
give to beggars, whom should she see coming along the 
street but a girl, walking rapidly, with a young man, 
to whom she was talking eagerly. 

As has been said, it was very unusual for ladies 
to walk about Moscow, as every one takes a sledge ; 
so that Nina looked to see who this lady was, and 
recognised Nathalia’s sister. ‘Olga! Oh Olga!’ she 
cried. 

Olga, who had not noticed Nina among the little 
crowd of beggars, gave a smile of pleasure, said some- 
thing rapidly to her companion, and advanced towards 
them. 

The young man made short work of the beggars, 
and Olga presented him as Ivan Kalska. 

‘ I am enchanted to make your acquaintance, 
madame. Olga has told me of your good heart, and 
I see to-day another proof of it. But you must not 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 191 '* 

give to beggars in the street; there are too many, 
and you will be pestered unbearably if you do,’ he 
said in excellent English. 

‘Perhaps it will be better if you walk with Nina 
to school, Ivan Ivanovitch. Anna is no protection, 
and other beggars may return. I myself have to pro- 
ceed to an important engagement.’ 

‘ That is true, Olga Arthurovna ; I will be the pro- 
tector of your young friend, and will rejoin’ 

began the young man. 

But Olga looked at him, and apparently her look 
said something, for he stopped abruptly. 

‘Then good-bye, Nina. I am glad we have met, 
after all. What the gods ordain, men try in vain to 
prevent,’ Olga said, with another bright smile, and 
went off in the direction she had been going when 
she and Ivan Kalska had met Nina and her maid. 

‘ I am glad you have a heart for suffering, madame. 
It is a beautiful quality ; but, alas ! so great is the 
poverty here that one has, for one’s own sake, to be 
prudent in the distribution of alms, so that the most 
deserving and necessitous may be relieved first. 
These are not all worthy.’ 

‘ Oh, please, do not call me madame ! ’ cried Nina ; 
‘and since I have met you, will you, please, take a 
message to Olga to tell her that it is not my fault 
that I do not walk home with Nathalia ’ 


192 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 


But before she got any further, the young man, with 
a wave of his hand, stopped her. ‘ There is no need ; 
she knows well that it is no fault of yours, but rather 
her own ; and, indeed, we — Olga and I — are glad that 
it should be so, and you will, I hope, feel so yourself 
before long.’ 

Nina stared at her companion in surprise. She 
had expected him to sympathise with her upon the 
tyranny under which she was suffering; but here 
he was, on the contrary, agreeing with her father. 

‘ Oh, well, I suppose you are right ; but it is rather 
hard upon me not to see Olga, whom I like so much. 
But if she does not care either ’ 

Again her companion interrupted her. ‘She does 
care, and I have expressed myself badly, I see, Nina 
Jakobovna; it is your companionship with Nathalia 
which we think unwise. Olga has no intention of 
giving you up ; but she begs you to take no steps to 
annoy the authorities, but to obey them implicitly.’ 

Nina looked at Ivan Ivanovitch (as he told her to 
call him) half-suspiciously. ‘ How do you know any- 
about it — or me?’ she inquired, wondering, as well 
she might, how a young man whom she had never 
seen before, and whom she had now met for the first 
time accidentally, should be charged with a message 
for her, and a rather peremptory message in her 
eyes. 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 


193 


Ivan Ivanovitch walked on with the same grave 
composure, and answered, ‘You wonder how I come 
to be Olga Arthurovna’s messenger ? It is simple. I 
am her greatest friend, and she tells me everything ; 
and as she feared you would not speak to her, she 
came to meet you, and point you out to me. But, as 
she herself said, the fates had willed that we should 
make friends in a very easy manner.' 

‘And suppose those beggars had not bothered me 
so, would you have stopped me all the same ? ' inquired 
Nina, to whom all this kind of plotting was new and 
rather interesting. 

Ivan shugged his shoulders. ‘Some means would 
have turned up. What is to be, is to be — Neet chai 
VO ' (‘ It can’t be helped ’). 

Nina was just going to ask Ivan if he really 
believed that nothing could be helped, when Anna, 
who highly disapproved of strange young gentlemen 
coming and talking thus familiarly with her young 
lady, broke in, ‘ Miss Ernestina, I think, as we can see 
the Gymnase from here and are on the boulevard, we 
need not keep this ;^ung gentleman from going to 
his appointment.' 

Nina was in the habit of allowing Anna much 
liberty, and Anna was in the habit of taking it, partly 
from having known Nina as a little child when they 
played together, and partly from being nurse’s niece. 

S.M. M 


194 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 


But this was too much; Nina grew red with anger, 
and would have put Anna in her place, but before 
she could answer, Ivan had taken it upon himself to 
do so. 

‘You are not accustomed to Moscow or its ways 
yet, and I think I had better take the harinia to 
the Gymnase, and then see you to your house. If 
you were to go alone, those beggars to whom you 
have been giving so generously might repay you by 
taking you down some side-street and robbing you of 
the gold you are supposed to have in such abundance,* 
he said. 

‘Oh my, sir!’ cried Anna. ‘Well, if that’s what 
comes of giving a penny to a poor man, I shall not 
give any more as long as I am in Russia 1 ’ 

So when Nina said good-bye to the two they went 
off together, Anna evidently quite flattered by the 
kindness of the gentleman, and reconciled to him. 

Nina turned to look after them with a smile, and 
almost knocked against a lady who was also going 
into the Gymnase, and who in her turn gave Nina a 
searching glance, which somehow made Nina feel very 
uncomfortable. 

Nina had never seen the lady before to her know- 
ledge, and wondered who she was. But Nina had no 
more time for wondering, for she was now inside the 
school, and no talking was allowed ; so Nathalia passed 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 


195 


her with a nod and smile, and the two went into 
different rooms, Nathalia to prayers, and Nina to her 
classroom, where she saw the ‘ class-lady * sitting 
waiting for her apparently. 

‘Good-morning, Nina; how are you getting on? 
Do you think you will soon understand Russian?* 
she inquired gravely. 

Nina did wish the ‘class-lady* would smile; but 
then, as she reflected, they never did, or very seldom. 
‘I do not know; I can read it a little already and 
write it, for the words are pronounced exactly as they 
are spelt,* she replied. 

And now the teacher did smile. ‘Ah, you notice 
that, and no wonder ! I remember when I began to 
learn English I thought it was the most extraordinary 
language I had ever heard of — there is absolutely no 
rule for the spelling of a word.* 

The ‘class-lady* spoke with evident feeling, and 
Nina smiled back, and the two began a half-laughing 
discussion of the difficulties of their respective lan- 
guages, Nina protesting against an alphabet which 
contained thirty-six letters and three forms of writing 
them, and the ‘class-lady* insisting that it was not 
so bad as a word spelt one way and pronounced in 
two different ways, according to meaning, such as 
‘tear,* or spelt different ways and pronounced the 
same, such as ‘ way,* ‘ weigh,* ‘ wae.* 


196 NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 

They got quite friendly over it, and from that went 
on to discussing the schools in the different countries, 
Nina speaking more freely than she had done since 
she came to Russia, and the ‘ class-lady ’ encouraging 
her by questions, and observing, ‘We always say 
that you are a very straightforward race. Do you 
think that girls in England are more frank than the 
girls in Moscow ? ' 

Nina hesitated for a moment. ‘ I don’t know ; I 
think it is easier to be straightforward in England 
than it is here.’ 

The ‘class-lady’ shook her head. ‘I don’t believe 
that underhand methods answer anywhere, and I like 
to think that our girls are as frank as you are ; if it 
were not so I could not trust them, and I do. I am 
sure there is not a girl in my class — and I have known 
some of them for five years — who would deceive me or 
conceal anything from me; and unless I am a bad 
judge of character, I have not got one now.’ 

Nina flushed at the compliment, which she felt was 
sincere; and then she thought of her walk of that 
morning, of which she was sure her ‘ class-lady ’ would 
not approve — not, of course, of a young man having 
kindly accompanied her and her maid to school, but 
of that special young man, and of his message from 
Olga, and she opened her mouth to say something, 
when the fates again intervened and sent in the 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 197 

teacher and the rest of the class to interrupt the tete- 
db-tite. 

The teacher gave Nina a swift look. Every one 
here had so little expression in her grave face that 
Nina could not be sure, but it seemed to her that the 
teacher did not look pleased with her. However, the 
lessons began, and as Nina paid more attention than 
usual, and tried her best to follow the lessons, the 
teacher gave her some approving glances; and then 
recreation came, and to her surprise Nathalia came 
up to Nina and slipped her arm into hers as if nothing 
had happened. 

• But Nina did not like being played * fast and loose 
with,’ as she called it, and said, ‘ I don’t know that I 
want you to take my arm.’ 

Nathalia looked so unhappy that Nina added, ‘I 
mean that you are rather a funny sort of friend, you 
know, Nathalia; you promised to come and fetch me 
every morning, and then, without saying anything, 
you stay away ; and now you come and talk to me as 
if you hadn’t done anything.’ 

Nathalia looked very uncomfortable for a minute. 
Then she said, ‘ Nina, I beg you not to be angry with 
me ; I only do what I am told. If my friendship is 
going to be of benefit to you, I am only too happy, 

for I love you ; but if it is going to ’ Here 

Nathalia stopped, and the tears came into her eyes. 


198 NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 

Nina was not looking at her, or she would have 
tried to comfort her ; but as it was she said impatiently, 
‘ If it is going to do what ? Go on, please.* 

‘If it is going to do you harm, then I would 
rather never speak to you again,* Nathalia said 
passionately. 

‘Don’t talk nonsense, Natasha ! How could you do 
me harm ? What a funny way of looking at friend- 
ship ! I never think whether I am going to benefit a 
girl if I like her. I just like being with her, and that 
is all. And pray why did you think your friendship 
would do me harm this morning at half-past eight, 
and that it would benefit me at twelve o’clock ? How 
do you think you would like it if I behaved like that 
to you ? * 

Nathalia heaved a great sigh. ‘ It is very difficult,* 
she said. 

‘What is difficult?* demanded Nina. ‘If you 
ask me what I think difficult, it is to understand 
you.* 

‘ There are many difficult things in this world,* said 
a voice behind them, and, turning, the two girls saw 
that Nina*s ‘ class-lady * had come up behind them and 
had made the above remark. 

For a moment Nina thought she had come to spy 
upon them, and had listened to their conversation ; but 
a look at the noble face of Alexandra Barikofif con- 


NINA AND THE RUSSIAN BEGGARS. 


199 


vinced her that she, at all events, had not been listen- 
ing, and that, if she had come to stop their conversation, 
it was because she thought it right; and much as 
Nina resented being interfered with as a rule, she did 
not mind this time. 


CHAPTER XVIL 


MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 
~TER school Nina found Nathalia waiting for her 



JTjL ill the cloakroom. She waited till they were 
outside, and then said mischievously, ‘ I was just won- 
dering whether you would have found out again that 
my society was not beneficial by the end of school.' 

Nathalia did not laugh, but replied gravely, ‘ I do 
what mamma and those in authority think best, Nina, 
and when I first knew you I thought you were like 
that too.’ 

‘ Like what ? ’ inquired Nina, though she knew very 
well what Nathalia meant. 

‘Like me in wanting to do what pleases your 
father,’ replied Nathalia. 

Nina shrugged her shoulders. ‘ I like doing what 
pleases myself best,’ she declared. 

As it happened, snow began to fall heavily at this 
moment, and the two began to hurry along and talk 
about it and whether they should take a sledge or 
walk home, and Nina, in the excitement of battling 
against the stinging flakes, forgot to argue ; and little 
did she know how thankful Nathalia was to escape 
from her questions. 


MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEAEN HER ALPHABET. 201 

When Nina arrived home, after having taken off 
her furs and snow-boots she went into the dining- 
room to have dinner, and hunger made her forget 
that she had had a slight adventure that morning. 
Miss Hamilton, who was waiting as usual for her, and 
who sat by her while she ate her dinner and told all 
the doings of the day, said nothing about it either; 
and it was Nina, after all, who, when her hunger was 
satisfied and she was ‘ thawed,’ as she called it, said 
suddenly, ‘ By the bye, did Anna tell you that we had 
a horrid time with some beggars this morning ? And 
goodness knows what we should have done if Olga 
Poltiskoff and a young man had not come up and sent 
them away.’ 

Nina quite expected her aunt to say that her father 
would not approve of her knowing any of Olga’s 
friends ; but to her surprise Mr Hamilton, who was in 
the next room, having come in a minute before and 
overheard the remark, the doors as usual being open, 
said, *Yes; Anna was highly flattered by Mr Kalska’s 
kindness. He saw her to the door, and told her 
where to go shopping, and, in short, made himself 
most agreeable.* 

‘ I wonder whether an Englishman would take so 
much trouble about a foreign servant ? ’ observed Miss 
Hamilton. 

‘ Oh, I expect Ivan Ivanovitch does not care what 


202 MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 

rank a person belongs to; he is above that sort of 
thing,’ said Nina thoughtlessly. 

Mr Hamilton looked up in surprise. ‘Indeed! 
He seems to have given you very good, old-fashioned 
advice all the same, so I should not think he had such 
subversive ideas.’ 

It was Nina’s turn to look surprised. ‘Gave me 
good advice ? I don’t remember his giving me any. 

And I don’t see that he had any business ’ Here 

she broke off short, and continued in a different tone, 

‘ Oh, I know what you mean 1 He said ’ And then 

she coloured, and stopped once more; but this time 
she did not go on again, for she felt rather un- 
comfortable as she remembered her conversation with 
Ivan Ivanovitch, and wondered how much Anna had 
repeated; and if she had repeated all, or even half, 
why her father approved of it, instead of being angry, 
and telling her at once — as she had expected him to 
do — never to speak to Ivan Ivanovitch again. 

Mr Hamilton did not seem surprised at her silence, 
but said good-humouredly, ‘ Russians are very down- 
right, and I think if I were you I would do as he 
advises, especially about not giving to beggars ; they 
swarm here and can be very troublesome; in fact, 
some are really thieves, and only beg to get a chance 
of stealing your purse, if you open it to give them 
money,* 


MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 203 

* I wonder they allow it. What ’s the good of being 
so strict with some people about some things, and 
allowing other people to do just what they like?’ 
exclaimed Miss Hamilton. 

Mr Hamilton sighed. ‘ It ’s this wretched Revolu- 
tion; since that the authorities have not dared to 
forbid begging. When I was last here it was not 
allowed ; things were very different then.’ 

Mr Hamilton spoke with feeling. The Revolution 
in Moscow had damaged his business very much, and 
he was having a great deal of trouble over it. 

Nina did not say anything. She was wondering 
why her father approved of Olga’s great friend when 
he disapproved of Olga, and came to the conclusion 
that he had begun to sympathise with the revolu- 
tionaries after all. 

However, she had something else to talk about 
besides Ivan Ivanovitch or revolutions, and began, 
‘ Papa, to morrow is a f^te day.’ 

‘ Indeed ? Does that mean that we are to have the 
infliction of your company all day?’ inquired her 
father teasingly. 

‘ It means that we are to have a holiday, and you 
know quite well that you are as pleased as I am,’ 
retorted Nina. * Now the question is, what shall we 
do to celebrate it ? ’ 

* Not being of the orthodox faith, I fail to see the 


204 MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 

necessity of our celebrating it at all/ replied her 
father dryly. 

‘It has nothing to do with any faith, papa; it is 
my holiday that we are going to celebrate, and I 
think I shall devote it to high art,’ observed Nina, 
with a quaint air of wisdom. ‘ First, we will go to 
the Tretiakoff Gallery, and then to the Kremlin and 
see ’ 

‘ Indeed ? ’ interrupted her father. ‘ Then you had 
made up your mind, and the asking what you should 
do was a polite farce ; but I beg to remark that you 
cannot do both the Tretiakoff Gallery and the Kremlin 
in one day.’ 

‘ Why not ? I have all day,’ observed Nina. 

‘ But perhaps we have not. Besides, the Tretiakoff 
Gallery will take you some hours ; there are a great 
number of pictures there.’ 

‘ Oh, but I don’t want to study it like that ; in fact, 
I only want to see one picture,’ said Nina impulsively. 

‘What picture ?’ inquired her father. 

‘ Oh — a — a historical one ; I don’t know its name, 
but I shall know it when I get there,’ said Nina, 
rather lamely. 

Mr Hamilton only laughed. * Bather like looking 
for a needle in a haystack, I am afraid you will find, 
unless you know the subject and the painter.’ 

‘It’s a scene in the time of Ivan the Terrible, I 


MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 205 

believe/ said Nina, ‘but I don’t remember the 
name.’ And then turning the conversation, she 
continued, ‘The truth is, some of the girls were 
talking about Russian art, and I was obliged to 
own that I had never seen any pictures painted by 
Russians, and they seemed so surprised that I said 
I was going to their picture-gallery my very first 
holiday.’ 

‘You might have consoled their pride by saying 
that you had not been to your own National Gal- 
lery till this year, when you were taken with your 
schoolfellows by your form-mistress,’ remarked Miss 
Hamilton. ‘ But I am as ignorant about Russian art 
as you are, so I will come with you and your father 
to-morrow. — You must point out the works of the 
chief painters, James.’ 

‘ I ? Why, I don’t know them myself. I think we 
had better charter a guide, if there is such a thing to 
be had in Moscow,’ protested her brother. 

‘But, papa, surely you know Verestchagin, and 
VasnetzoflT, and Repine, and Polenoff, and Makovsky, 
and ’ 

‘ Stop, stop ! ’ cried Nina’s father hastily ; while Miss 
Hamilton dropped her work, and stared open-eyed at 
her niece as she rattled off these strange-sounding 
names. ‘ That will do ! I don’t want a string of 
dreadful names hurled at me. We will wait until 


206 MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 

we get to the gallery, and buy a catalogue and see 
which are really the most famous artists.* 

‘ But, papa, surely you know these famous Russian 
artists ? * said Nina in a tone of reproach. 

*I do happen to know Verestchagin, the great 
war-artist who was killed at sea in the late war 
between Russia and Japan; but I am edified by 
your superior attitude, considering that not so 
very long ago you thought that Russia was peopled 
by savages, and had no idea that it had any art or 
artists. A little knowledge generally has that efiect, 
I notice.’ 

Nina ignored this observation, and was or pretended 
to be absorbed in her fruit ; and Miss Hamilton 
remarked, ‘I wonder if it would be any good my 
trying to learn Russian ? Nina does not seem to 
find these names so difficult, and it really would 
be most convenient to be able at least to read the 
name of the street one lives in.’ 

‘ Oh yes. Aunt Penelope ; it is a very easy language, 
and so pretty. I ’ll teach you in no time ! ’ cried 
Nina eagerly. 

‘ I am much obliged, Nina, but I wish you would 
be a little more accurate in your statements. You 
will not be able to teach me in no time, and Russian 
certainly is not an easy language, and as for being 
pretty — that ’s a matter of taste. How any one can 


MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 207 

call a language which sounds as if one were sneezing 
all the time pretty, I don’t know.’ 

‘ I rather like it. It is perhaps the pretty expres- 
sions they use, rather than the sounds themselves; 
but I warn you, Penelope, that the first thing you 
will have to do is to unlearn your alphabet,’ her 
brother warned her. 

‘ Oh, now, don’t go discouraging her, papa ; it really 
is not a bit difficult. — Come along. Aunt Penelope ; I 
have no lessons to learn, and it is just the time to 
begin,’ said Nina. 

‘Very well; I should like to learn the letters at 
any rate, for it is dreadful to want to go out and 
not to dare because you can’t speak a word of the 
language nor read the names of the streets. So 
begin, Nina. What is an A in Russian ? ’ 

‘You don’t begin with A, Aunt Pen; you begin 
with B,’ corrected Nina. 

‘ Dear me, how odd ! But that ’s not a B, Nina. 
Pay attention ; that ’s To. Here ’s a B.’ 

Mr Hamilton chuckled. 

‘Yes, it is in Russian, Aunt Penelope. That B is 
pronounced V and written To,’ explained Nina. 

Miss Hamilton looked doubtfully at her brother. 
‘ Is she talking nonsense ? ’ she inquired. 

‘No; I told you you had to unlearn your alpha- 
bet. An English B is V in Russian, and L is A 


208 MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 

without the stroke across. That B back to front is 
Yer ’ 

But Miss Hamilton stopped him. ‘ One letter at a 
time, if you please ; but first I want to know if all the 
letters are wrong or upside-down ? * 

‘ A good many ; and as there are thirty-six of them, 
you will find some very odd-looking signs,* said her 
brother mischievously. 

With knitted brow Miss Hamilton pored over the 
elementary reading-book which Nina had brought to 
teach her aunt the ‘easy* Russian language, and 
repeated after Nina the letters, which, she declared, 
were all mixed up and back to front ; and after half- 
an-hour of much argument with Nina, whom she 
suspected of making mistakes, either on purpose or 
through ignorance, she finally declared, ‘ That will do, 
Nina; I have decided not to trouble about Russian.* 

‘ But why on earth. Aunt Penelope ? You are 
getting on quite well ; you really have learnt that B 
is V in Russian.* 

‘ Yes ; after half-an-hour of worry, which has given 
me a headache. At that rate I should take a month 
to learn the alphabet — if I ever did ; and I prefer to 
take some one with me when I have to go out.* 

And so ended Miss Hamilton*s first and last attempt 
to learn Russian ; while Nina, on the contrary, made 
such rapid progress that even her teachers were 


MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEAEN HER ALPHABET. 209 

surprised. Her explanation that she ‘had a sym- 
pathy’ for the language did not seem to account 
for it. Her ‘class-lady,’ who understood Nina, said 
that she had never had such an intelligent pupil, and 
that it was her affection for all things Russian that 
made it easy for her to remember Russian names and 
expressions. 

‘ Curious,’ remarked the head-mistress thought- 
fully when Nina’s mistress repeated this ; ‘ I did not 
know that the English could be so adaptive. They 
have the name of never speaking any language but 
their own, if they can avoid doing so ; and, as a rule, 
they certainly prefer it and all things English to those 
of other people.’ 

‘I think Nina’s friends here have influenced her,’ 
said the teacher. 

The head-mistress looked up sharply. ‘ Her friends ? 
Whom do you mean ? ’ 

‘ I mean Nathalia Poltiskoff,’ replied the other. 

The head-mistress looked relieved. ‘ Oh, Nathalia ! 
She is a good and obedient girl ; I should not think 
she should have any influence — any strong influence 
— upon any one, far less upon Ernestina Hamilton, 
who is the stronger character of the two. She has no 
ideas, has she ? ’ she inquired, with a tone of anxiety. 

‘No, no; Nathalia is very candid, and her “class- 
lady ” tells me that she is very distressed about the 

S.M. N 


210 MISS HAMILTON CANNOT LEARN HER ALPHABET. 

views of Olga, who, she says, causes her parents 
much anxiety with her obstinate proceedings.* 

* But this Olga — is she not a friend of Ernestina*s ? 
Is not she the influence of which you speak ? * 

‘She was to begin with; but since the day that 
Ivan Kalska accompanied her to school, Nina has not 
seen either him or Olga. Either they have found her 
useless for their purpose, or Nina’s father has for- 
bidden her to speak to them. And Nina is very 
obedient to her father, fortunately.’ 

‘ I am very glad to hear it. I shall report the fact 
with great pleasure, and mention that the girl is so 
much interested in her studies that she does not 
occupy her head with matters — far beyond her age 
and understanding,’ said the head-mistress, with an 
air of relief. 

The mistress looked pleased. ‘I am glad that 
you should do so, Katerina Alexandrovna. I should 
not have favourites, especially among my newer pupils, 
but Ernestina Hamilton has a very warm place in my 
affections, and when I see her learning so earnestly, 
or notice her intelligent face lighted up during the 
lessons, I am thankful that she is so sensible* 

The head-mistress agreed, but kept her own opinion 
as to Nina’s wonderful intelligence, in which she did 
not believe. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

HE conversation related in the last chapter 



1 took place some days after the holiday on 
which Nina had decided to study high art, and, as 
a matter of fact, was not quite correct, as the story 
of her holiday will show. 

The morning of the f^te day was bright and sunny, 
and Nina was in high spirits at the thought of her 
day off. ‘ Because, you know. Aunt Penelope, although 
I like school most awfully, still it is very tiring to 
be all the time trying to understand a foreign lan- 
guage or to talk it; so that it will be quite a rest 
to go with you and papa to look at pictures and 
sights and talk English all the day.* 

‘ I am sorry to say that one part of your programme 
cannot be carried out, because, unfortunately, I am 
obliged to go out of Moscow for the day,’ put in Mr 
Hamilton as he sat down to breakfast. 

* Oh papa, what a pity 1 What shall we do without 
you ? ’ cried Nina. 

‘ Quite well. — That is to say, of course, I am sorry 
that you cannot come with us, James ; but I am quite 
capable of going to a picture-gallery by myself, and 


212 HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

looking at pictures without any one’s aid/ remarked 
Miss Hamilton, who, as has been said, had occasional 
moods of independence, which amused her relations 
very much. 

‘ I don’t doubt it, Penelope, especially as there are 
sure to be catalogues in English sold at the door. 
The dvornik Qiall-porter] will take you there in a 
carriage, and will wait for you, and ’ 

‘ Quite unnecessary ! I can say our address when 
we come out of the gallery, and the coachman will drive 
us back here. All the dvornik has to do is to call 
a sledge and tell the man to drive to that gallery — I 
can’t pronounce the name.’ 

‘Very good,’ agreed Mr Hamilton, who never 
argued with his sister if he could avoid it, for he 
knew her obstinacy, and in this case thought she was 
quite able to do as she had said. 

After breakfast, accordingly, Nina and her aunt 
started for the gallery, in a sledge fetched by the 
dvornik, with their furs well wrapped round them. 
‘ Although,’ as Miss Hamilton observed, nestling down 
among her rugs, ‘I really could not have believed 
that I should feel the cold so little.’ 

‘ But it is not so cold to-day. Aunt Penelope ; not 
colder than in England,’ replied Nina, who was, how- 
ever, enveloped in a long fur cloak. 

‘Not colder than in England !’ cried Miss Hamilton. 


HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 213 

‘Why, according to the thermometer we have about 
twenty degrees of frost, and I shiver with one degree 
at home.* 

‘ Oh, well then, if, as people say, one does not feel 
the cold so much here, I suppose it is because the 
sun is so bright and the air dry. Anyway, whatever 
the cause may be, I am very glad, because I don’t 
bother about my nose now, and I used to be always 
thinking of it and feeling it for fear that it should be 
frozen.’ 

‘ Then you had better begin thinking again, Nina, 
for it is quite white at this moment ! ’ cried her aunt. 

Nina gave a little cry, and making a scoop at the 
snow on the ground as she passed in the sledge — 
which was so low that she could easily touch the 
snow by stretching over the side — she tried to scrape 
some up ; but it was much too hard, and she had to 
rub her nose as hard as she could with her gloved 
hand. ‘It does tingle! Oh, how horrid!’ she ex- 
claimed, the tears coming into her eyes with the 
pain. 

Miss Hamilton gave a grunt of satisfaction. ‘Just 
in time, no doubt ! It ’s a dreadful climate, after 
all!’ 

They now turned down a narrow street and stopped 
before a mean-looking building, at which Nina and 
she both looked in wonder. 


214 HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

‘What is he stopping here for, Aunt Penelope?' 
asked Nina. 

‘ As if I knew 1 Can’t you understand what he is 
saying, Nina ? Then what ’s the good of sapng that 
you are getting on so well ? — Don’t understand, my 
good man!’ Miss Hamilton cried to the coachman, 
who had turned round on his seat and was saying 
something to them. 

‘ I think he says it ’s the gallery,’ said Nina doubt- 
fully. 

‘Think? What’s the good of thinking? I don’t 
think so ; it does not look like a public building at 
all ; or if so, it ’s a very poor one.’ 

As they sat there in doubt, the coachman gesticulat- 
ing wildly, and Miss Hamilton getting more and more 
flurried, suspecting that their driver had brought them 
to the wrong place, a young man, who had been walk- 
ing backwards and forwards in the street, and at whom 
Nina had looked intently, but who made no reply to 
her half-recognition, came forward, and, addressing 
Miss Hamilton, said in perfect English, ‘ Can I be of 
assistance, madam ? ’ 

‘ Oh, thank you so much I Would you please tell 
this coachman that we want to go to the picture- 
gallery — the chief one? I don’t know its name. — 
What is its name, Nina ? ’ 

‘ The Tretiakoff* Gallery,’ replied Nina, who did not 


HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 215 

seem able to take her eyes off their new acquaintance, 
who, on the contrary, did not seem to be in the least 
interested in her. 

He now turned to her, and, again raising his hat, 
remarked, ‘ Then you are there, ladies. Shall I pay 
the coachman, and may I assist you to descend ? * 

To both these offers Miss Hamilton, who was in 
reality the most timid of women, said ‘ Yes and the 
next moment the three were walking into the picture- 
gallery in the most friendly way — that is to say. Miss 
Hamilton and the young man were, for Nina walked on 
the other side of her aunt, a frown on her face, as she 
looked from time to time at their companion, who was 
talking politely to Miss Hamilton. 

Inside, after having got them an English catalogue, 
he again raised his hat, and went away to take off his 
snow-boots and furs, while Miss Hamilton and Nina 
went to another part to do the same. 

‘What a polite young man! But I notice that 
about the Russians; they are so ready to help 
strangers, and so honest and well-conducted that one 
does not mind taking their help.' 

‘I don’t know so much about that,’ said Nina 
shortly. 

Miss Hamilton drew herself up. ‘ My dear Ernes- 
tina, I think I am the best judge of what is wise, and 
I only wish that that young man was coming our 


216 HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

it is not every one who would take so much 
trouble for an old woman.* 

‘You are not a bit old, Aunt Penelope,* retorted 
Nina. 

‘ Don’t be ridiculous, Ernestina ! I suppose you do 
not mean to suggest that at my age I am not able 
to accept help from a stranger ? * cried her aunt 
indignantly. 

‘ I didn’t mean anything of the kind. I only meant 

— that I am glad that he has gone. I don’t like * 

Here Nina stopped, for their companion had passed 
quite close, and was looking at a picture near. 

Miss Hamilton, who was also attracted by this 
picture, looked at the number in her book, and then 
at the picture, and then at Nina. ‘Well, if you can 
make out what this is about, it’s more than I can. 
For my part, I believe they *ve put it upside-down ; 
though, to be sure, I doubt whether it would be 
any more intelligible if it were the other way up. I 
never saw such a number of extraordinary pictures — 
such violent colours ! And this is the worst of all ! * 

Nina laughed. ‘ I suppose it *s what they call 
impressionist ; but I never saw such a funny picture 
in my life ! ’ she said. 

‘As it is by one of their best painters — I see a 
star, and I presume that means that he is a great 
painter — I suppose it has some merit. But, really, 


HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 217 

one wants a guide; and if/ Miss Hamilton added, 
lowering her voice, * you had not taken one of your 
foolish dislikes to that good-natured man, who no 
doubt is an artist, since he spends a morning like this 
looking at pictures, I should ask him to be our guide/ 

Apparently the young man in question had over- 
heard this last remark, and, turning with a smile, 
he said quite naturally, and as if he had known them 
and been properly introduced, as Nina indignantly 
thought to herself, ‘ I see you are looking at that 
wonderful picture ? ’ 

‘ Well, it certainly is wonderful as regards colour; 
but, to tell you the truth, I can’t understand it.’ 

‘ It is the Spirit of Spring. If you look at it atten- 
tively, you will see the spirit hovering over the pale 
green of the trees and grass and the buds, which only 
become visible after you have looked some time. 
Look, the drapery of Spring forms the green and 
the other colours, and its hands touch the buds so 
lovingly that even as we gaze they grow and take 
form ! ’ 

Even Nina, in spite of ‘dislike,’ as her aunt called 
it, was obliged to listen, and seemed to see what their 
companion pointed out to them ; while Miss Hamilton, 
who had no taste for art, was delighted. 

Although no more was said, the three went on 
together, the young Russian explaining the pictures 


218 HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

most intelligently, and when it came to pictures of 
Kussian history, showing a perfect knowledge of the 
subject, especially its darker side. 

‘There is one thing that strikes me about these 
pictures, and that is their sadness; you have no 
bright, happy homes nor gay scenes, and yet you 
have fetes,' Miss Hamilton remarked. 

The Russian s impassive face did not change as he 
answered, ‘You have made a most just criticism. 
We cannot paint what we have not got; we have 
no happy homes nor gay scenes, though we have 
fetes.' 

At this juncture Miss Hamilton spied a velvet- 
covered sofa, and exclaimed with relief, ‘ Thank good- 
ness ! there is a seat at last ; I really must rest for 
a minute.' So saying, she sat down, and Nina saw 
by her appearance that the minute was likely to be a 
long one. 

The Russian sat down beside her, and began talking, 
in his interesting way, about a famous battle-piece 
which was before them, and of another which repre- 
sented a terrible scene outside the Kremlin, and por- 
trayed the execution of rebels in the time of Peter 
the Great, the details of which he was relating to 
Miss Hamilton, who was listening with eagerness, 
and giving vent to remarks which would have made 
Mr Hamilton's hair bristle, so incautious was she, and 






HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 219 

SO much did she sympathise with the views of her 
companion. 

Suddenly Nina got up. ‘I am going to look at 
some other pictures, Aunt Pen ; I will come back in a 
few minutes.’ 

‘ My dear, you can’t go alone ! ’ cried her aunt, with 
a half-glance at her companion. 

But the latter replied quietly, ‘She will he quite 
safe ; our young ladies are allowed much liberty, and 
no one thinks of interfering with them.’ 

So Nina went off, and wandered farther than she 
meant to do, when she suddenly heard a voice at her 
side, saying, ‘ Nina, I apologise to you for my seem- 
ing rudeness ; I see that you are offended at my not 
recognising you at once.’ 

‘ I am not in the least annoyed at that ; but ’ 

Here Nina paused ; it was somehow so difficult to be 
angry with this kind young man, who treated one so 
politely. 

‘But what?’ he inquired. ‘You are not pleased 
with me ? What else have I done ? ’ 

‘ It is not straightforward, and I hate deceiving my 
aunt,’ blurted out Nina, rather ashamed of reproving 
her elder. 

But the Bussian nodded his head. ‘ I understand 
that; but I do not see that we have deceived her. 
All that we have done has been to abstain from saying 


220 HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

that we have met before ; and you will admit that it is 
not necessary or wise to say all that is in one’s mind. 
For instance, I think your aunt is very unwise in 
some things ; but you do not mean to tell me I ought 
to say so to her ? ’ 

Nina was not sure whether she ought not to be 
offended at this plain criticism of her aunt, which 
she felt to be true. But her friend saved her the 
trouble of answering, and continued, ‘If I thought 
my saying so would stop her from expressing her 
political opinions in public to a stranger, I would tell 
her she was unwise to do so, but it would be pre- 
sumption on my part ; and for the same reason I do 
not tell her that we have met before, nor who I am. 
It would do her no good, and I am not a free agent. 
I live for a cause, and I have it to consider before all ; 
and if it would endanger that to speak out, I must be 
silent.’ 

Nina was not convinced, but could think of no 
arguments against this kind of reasoning ; so she was 
silent. 

‘You do not reply, naturally. You live in such 
happy surroundings that you do not need to be 
cautious ; but when you know that a price has been 
put on your head, and that one incautious word may 
give the handle by which you may be taken, one has 
to be prudent.* 


HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 221 

Nina shuddered. She had just been looking at 
fearful pictures of the sufferings and tortures that 
prisoners undergo in Russia, which, as may be 
imagined, lost none of their horrors when related 
by Ivan Ivanovitch. 

‘Of course; I forgot,' she faltered, ‘you have 
to be careful. It is only that I am not used to 
keeping anything from Aunt Penelope. But I will 
not say anything if it is likely to get you into 
trouble.' 

The Russian shrugged his shoulders. ‘ As to that, 
I hope you do not think it was of my personal safety 
I was thinking. I only value my life as useful to my 
country; sooner or later I shall give it up for her. 
It is as much for your aunt's sake that I beg you to 
be silent ; if she speaks of having been with me, she 
will be suspected.' 

‘ Then why did you speak to her at all ? ' asked 
Nina, rather frightened ; for Miss Hamilton was 
very incautious, and she could not help thinking 
that Ivan Ivanovitch might have abstained from 
making her acquaintance. 

‘ How could I help it ? It is not the custom of our 
country to leave people in diflBculties when we can 
help them out. But tell me, do you not begin to 
understand why we — Olga and I — think as we 
do?' 


222 HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

‘Yes, I understand it,’ said Nina, rather doubt- 
fully. 

‘ But you do not sympathise ? I am surprised. I 
thought you would,’ he said in a tone of disappoint- 
ment. 

‘Yes, I do; and if I could do anything to help 

you’ began Nina; and was going to add, ‘I 

would, but I can’t, because my father has forbidden 
me; and, besides, I do not think it would be any 
good.’ 

But Ivan Ivanovitch gave her no time to reply. 
He wrung her hand, and said in a voice which 
trembled, ‘ Thank you, with all my heart, in the name 
of my suffering country.’ Then, without a word more, 
he was off, disappearing almost as if the earth had 
swallowed him up. 

Nina stood there in dismay, and was wondering 
which way to turn, when an official strolled into the 
room, and, catching sight of her, gave a look of in- 
telligence, and came up to her, saying something 
which she did not understand, and making a sign for 
her to follow him, which she did understand. 

For one dreadful moment Nina’s heart stood still. 
She thought that she had been seen conversing with 
Ivan Ivanovitch, and was ‘ suspect ’ — a word she had 
learnt to dread ; and it was with a heavy heart that she 
followed the official through several rooms, till they 


HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 223 

came to the one in which she had left Aunt Penelope, 
whom, to her joy, Nina saw still sitting upon the 
velvet couch on which she had left her. 

‘There you are, Nina! Upon my word, you are 
most inconsiderate ! Here have I been waiting for 
you for more than half-an-hour ; and that very kind 
young man, who went to find you, returned without 
being able to do so, and advised me to send this 
official after you, as he unfortunately could not stay 
any longer.’ 

‘ Couldn’t find me ? ’ exclaimed Nina in amazement, 
as may be imagined. 

‘ Yes ; he said you were not in any of the modern 
rooms, and that I had better send to the historical 
room, where he had no doubt you would be, as that 
kind of thing would appeal to you.’ 

Nina for a moment was too much taken aback to 
reply. Ivan Ivanovitch might well have no doubt 
on the subject, seeing that he had just left her there ; 
and Nina was almost going to say so, when she 
stopped. If she did, she would have to explain the 
untruth — or, rather, deceit — he had used, for he had 
evidently not said that he could not find her, but that 
she was not in those rooms. But it was as bad, or 
worse ; and the difficulty was that if she said so much 
she would have to explain all, and Nina knew that 
her aunt would be very angry at the deception played 


224 HOW NINA AND HER AUNT STUDY HIGH ART. 

on her by her niece. It was all too difficult, Nina 
decided, and she sighed heavily. 

‘ You are tired, and no wonder ! Let us go home 
now. That official understood a little English, and 
found you at once,’ Miss Hamilton added, as she rose 
from her seat and made her way out of the gallery, 
accompanied by her niece. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 

H aving, to her great satisfaction, succeeded 
in making the driver of her sledge under- 
stand where she wanted him to drive. Miss Hamil- 
ton settled herself down in the carriage, and 
observed, ‘ I knew I could get about quite well 
without knowing this impossible language, which 
only your conceit, Ernestina, makes you pretend to 
find easy.’ 

Nina did not laugh, as she usually did at her 
aunt’s assertions of this kind ; nor did she answer. 

Miss Hamilton seemed struck by her silence, and 
observed again, ‘ It seems to me that you are either 
catching the habits of these people, or else that you 
are trying to imitate them.’ 

This time Nina did reply, and asked, ‘ Trying to 
imitate the Russians ? Why ? What do you mean. 
Aunt Penelope ? ’ 

‘ I mean that you have come out for a holiday, and 
said that you were going to enjoy yourself, talking 
English all the time ; and you have not said a word 
all the morning, and do not even answer my 
questions.’ 

S.M. 


o 


226 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


‘I — was — thinking; but I have enjoyed myself — 
very much — the pictures, I mean,’ replied Nina, 
hesitating and stumbling in a way very unusual for 
her. 

'Well, if that is what you call enjoying yourself, 
I don’t; you have not smiled once since we left 
home.’ 

‘ One can enjoy one’s self without always smiling ! 
One must be serious sometimes.’ 

‘ There ! I was right ! You are copying the 
Russians ; that ’s the way Olga and that young man 
talked. And, by the way, Nina, I didn’t like the 
way you behaved this morning at all,’ added Miss 
Hamilton suddenly. 

'What way?’ inquired Nina, rather irritably, it 
must be owned. 

' The way you looked at that young man — so — so 
suspiciously, just like the Russians. Yes, that’s it; 
you are trying to be Russian ! I never heard any- 
thing so ridiculous in my life ! I shall tell your 
father ! ’ cried her aunt. 

' What are you going to tell papa ? ’ inquired Nina 
rather anxiously, for she did not want her father to 
know about the morning’s encounter at all. 

'Never mind,’ replied Miss Hamilton, pursing up 
her lips in a way that Nina always found very 
aggravating, and that to-day made her very uneasy. 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


227 


So she roused herself to be pleasant, and began 
to tell Miss Hamilton about the Red Square through 
which they were passing ; and added, ‘ This is where 
all those great events took place that we saw in those 
pictures.’ 

‘ To be sure ! ’ exclaimed Miss Hamilton, quite 
interested, and apparently forgetting her annoyance 
and her threats to tell her brother of Nina’s be- 
haviour. ‘The square of blood — that is why it is 
called “ red,” ’ she added. 

‘ Red means “ royal,” I believe,’ said Nina. 

All the same she was very glad when they reached 
home, and she was free to be ‘ serious ’ without any 
one there to notice it. And serious Nina was, as she 
leant her head against the window-pane and looked 
out to the street, with a frown of perplexity on 
her face. ‘ If only Miss Poole were here to ask,’ she 
murmured ; and then she started as the thought 
of what Miss Poole had said came back to her, and 
how she had prophesied that words which sounded 
foolish and wrong in England would seem very noble 
in Moscow, and the desire to consult Miss Poole 
seized her. With Nina to wish a thing was to do it, 
if possible, and at once, and she accordingly sat down 
and told her late head-mistress about her difficulty, 
winding up : ‘ I don’t want to get any one put into 
prison ; although I don’t mean to help them. But I 


228 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


am afraid, if I told papa, he might say something or 
do something which would harm Ivan Ivanovitch, so 
what am I to do ? I can’t write to him, because I 
don’t know where he lives, and Olga never comes 
near me ; so I can’t send him a message to tell him he 
mistook my meaning. Please tell me what I ought 
to do.’ 

Nina finished the letter with a sigh of relief, and 
then she stopped, and threw the letter down on the 
table in despair. ‘ Why, it can’t go ! They would 
read it, and perhaps put me and Ivanovitch into 
prison ! ’ she exclaimed with dismay. Without 
further delay, Nina took the letter, tore it into a 
hundred little pieces, and then looked at the pieces 
to see if they could be pieced together. 

She was just doing this, when Anna came into the 
room, and remarked, ‘ You look as if you were playing 
that game they play in the servants’ hall, piecing the 
letters together.’ 

‘ What game ? ’ asked Nina. 

‘Why, taking the pieces out of the waste-paper 
baskets, and seeing who can make the best story out 
of them ! You have no idea what funny things one 
reads ! ’ 

‘ But it ’s very dishonourable to read other people’s 
letters, Anna!’ cried Nina, horrified as well as 
alarmed. 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


229 


‘ Why, miss, what ’s the harm ? It ’s only waste- 
paper! And folk shouldn’t be so careless if they 
have secrets. There was that young lady that was 
engaged, and had a tiff with her young gent — you 
know Miss Lake — well, she ’ 

But here Nina interrupted Anna hastily. ‘ I don’t 
want to hear anything about her affairs, and you 
have no business to know anything either. I am 
sure if Nana knew that you did such a thing she 
would be very angry, and as you do go reading my 
letters I shall burn this one ; ’ and, so saying, Nina lit 
a match and set fire to the scraps of paper, not sorry, 
if the truth be told, that she had found an excuse for 
burning her letter, a thing which she had never done 
before. 

Poor Anna’s face fell. ‘I am sure, miss, I never 
meant to take any liberty with your letters, and I 
have never read your letters ; they wouldn’t be inter- 
esting — I mean, there ’s no love or things like that in 
them,’ she explained, as she saw Nina’s lip curl into 
a smile. 

‘ Well, it ’s burnt now, so no one can read it, which 
is just as well,’ Nina observed, with an involuntary 
sigh of relief, as she thought what an escape she had 
perhaps had ; for if Anna only abstained from reading 
her letters because they were uninteresting, she would 
very likely have read this one, if she could, as soon 


280 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


as she saw that it was likely to be interesting; and 
at the thought of the innocent spy she unconsciously 
had at home Nina felt * serious’ again. 

‘Well, it was not possible to write to Miss Poole; 
the only thing is to do what she thought right ; ’ and 
with this resolve Nina was leaving the room, when 
Anna exclaimed, ‘Why, I’ve never given you this 
note; it came with a special messenger. It’s from 
Mrs Poltiskoff, I think.’ 

‘ Pray have you read it ? ’ inquired Nina. 

But Anna, highly offended, replied with dignity, 
‘No, miss; I have not. I shouldn’t think of doing 
such a thing — leastways ’ 

‘Not unless it was torn up ? I can’t see the differ- 
ence myself; in fact, I think that’s worse, because 
people generally tear up things they don’t want to read 
because there is some secret in them,’ replied Nina. 

‘Why, miss, you’ve just torn up that long letter, 
and there ’s no secret in it,’ objected Anna. 

Nina coloured, but did not reply, and to avoid doing 
so began to read the note Anna had brought her. A 
note from Madame Poltiskoff did not bring her un- 
alloyed pleasure, because if it was an invitation, she 
thought she would rather not go and meet Olga. 
But when she read the contents she cried, ‘Anna, I 
am going to the Poltiskoffs’ this afternoon ; there is 
something very interesting going on. You had better 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


231 


read the letter; it is a love-story;’ and she handed 
the letter to Anna. 

The latter took it, quite flattered ; but on looking 
at it her face fell. ‘ Why, miss, it ’s in Russian ! ’ she 
exclaimed in disappointed tones. 

Nina laughed mischievously. ‘That’s a punish- 
ment for your curiosity. But it isn’t in Russian; 
it’s in French, and it’s to say that Miss Poltiskoff 
— Nathalia’s eldest sister — is betrothed, and there 
is a betrothal feast this afternoon, and I am 
invited.’ 

‘ What ! Miss Olga ? Well, I ’m sure, that is a bless- 
ing! Now she’ll leave off being a revolutionary and 
getting herself sent off to Siberia, where she’d have 
ended, as sure as sure can be, but for this I ’ cried 
Anna. 

Nina stared at Anna in amazement. She had no 
idea that Anna knew anything about revolution- 
aries, or about Olga Poltiskoff and her opinions ; and 
she asked, ‘Pray what do you know about Olga 
Arthurovna ? Who told you that she would be sent 
off* to Siberia ? ’ 

‘ Well, miss, as it’s all right now, and she ’s going to 
marry that nice young gentleman, who is an oflScer 
and all, she ’ll be quite safe, and there ’s no harm in my 
telling you that they have been warned again ; that 
she is “ suspect ” — that ’s what they call it — and would 


232 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


either have to leave the country of her own accord, 
or else she ’d be sent away to a worse place.’ 

Nina listened with horror, and for the first minute 
it did not strike her that she had got this information 
under false pretences, for it was not Olga who was 
engaged to be married, but her sister Zina. But she 
now exclaimed, ‘Miss Olga is not engaged; it is her 
sister. But I hope what you have said is not true, 
Anna.’ 

‘ Oh miss, I wouldn’t have told you for the world ; 
and after I promised I wouldn’t breathe a word to 
you, of all people ! Oh, ma’m’selle will be cross ! ’ 
cried Anna, letting out by her impulsive speech who 
had been her informant. 

‘ You have no right to promise to keep things from 
me ; it ’s very wrong, and I am very glad you have 
told me,’ said Nina with dignity. 

Anna looked anything but glad ; but as it was time 
for Nina to get ready no more was said, and Nina 
dressed in silence for the betrothal feast, where, in 
company with Miss Hamilton, she went shortly after. 

On the way Nina recovered her spirits — never 
very long depressed — and remarked to her aunt, who 
was leaning forward and patting the isvoschiJc, or 
coachman, on the back, a very easy thing to do, the 
sledge being low and cramped, ‘You need not talk 
about my copying Russians, Aunt Penelope ; you are 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


233 


thumping that peasant just as if you were a Muscovite 
yourself ! ’ 

' I wanted him to he quick . — Tchaso ! ’ she repeated, 
this being one of the few Russian words she knew. 
— ‘ And I did not thump him. Besides, if I had, he 
would not have felt it any more than a fly with all 
those wadded things on him,’ retorted Miss Hamilton. 

The two were in a private sledge, and the coachman 
was in consequence dressed in style, which means that 
he had his long overcoat wadded till it stood out 
round him like a crinoline, and his waist was about a 
yard and a half round and encircled in a silver belt. 
This being a special occasion, Mr Hamilton had 
insisted upon their going in a three-horse sledge, in 
spite of Miss Hamilton’s objections, in consequence of 
the habit of Russian horses trotting with their heads 
sideways — that is to say, when they are three abreast, 
in which case it is the fashion for the two outside 
horses to progress crab-like, with their heads turned 
outwards and as far back as they can get to ‘ look at 
you ! ’ Anna declared. 

The isvoschik drove up with a mad circle to the 
Poltiskoffs’ door, and the two descended. 

They found the whole house in a state of excite- 
ment. Nathalia came flying to the door to meet 
them. ‘ I saw you from the window. Come in here ; 
it is all prepared. And think what a happy wedding 


234 


A EUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


it will be ! The priest was in the next house blessing 
it, with one of our most sacred pictures, and Katerina 
— our old nurse, who has been sixty years in our 
family ; she was a slave, you know, but was 
liberated, so she could leave us ; but she won't — per- 
suaded mamma to let the priest come and bless the 
betrothal, and he will arrive directly. See, this is the 
table prepared for him ; the picture will be put there, 
and the priest will say some prayers, and Zina and 
Nikolai will pray too, and promise to be true to one 
another, and all will go well, for they will have the 
blessing of God. You believe that, don’t you ? ’ she 
asked anxiously. 

‘Believe what?’ inquired Nina, who did not know 
whether she did believe all that Nathalia believed. 

‘ You believe that it is right to pray to God and go 
to church ? I am sure you said so,’ replied Nathalia. 

‘ Yes, of course. But why do you ask me ? ’ inquired 
Nina. 

‘ Because Olga declared that you did not. She said 
that you were too intelligent to believe in God or 
anything but yourself,’ replied Nathalia, on whom 
this thought had evidently been pressing. 

‘ Papa goes to church too, and he is a very clever 
man,’ said Nina, offended, and as the priest now 
arrived she had no time to say more ; but somehow 
she found herself thinking proudly that though, of 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


235 


course, she was not irreligious, she did trust in herself, 
and could manage her own affairs. 

However, at this moment Zina, in a very beautiful 
dress, entered the room, led by a young Russian, and 
the two stood before the table in front of the priest, 
who said something in Russian, to which the two 
replied, and after some ceremonies, which Nina did 
not understand, the priest got up and went away; 
and every one shook hands or kissed Zina and con- 
gratulated her fianc6, and the party adjourned into 
the long, handsomely furnished dining-room, where 
tea — afternoon tea — was served. 

Miss Hamilton accepted a cup, and looked furtively 
for some bread-and-butter, but could see none. She 
was offered some tiny, sweet cakes and chocolates, and 
little plates of some kind of jam, and made an attempt 
to eat what was put before her ; but as she never ate 
sweets or jam, Nina wondered how she liked them. 

As for Nina, she was next Nathalia, with whom 
she was sufficiently at home to ask whether one did 
not have cut bread-and-butter at tea. 

* Bread-and-butter ! Noton an occasion like this; 
we have cake. But do you not prefer eating jam 
alone ? ' replied Nathalia, who was eating jam with a 
spoon off a little plate. 

' I think it would make me sick if I ate it like that ; 
it’s so sweet,’ objected Nina; whereupon Nathalia, 


236 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 


without a word, got up and said something to her 
mother. 

Madame Poltiskoff immediately gave an order to 
the servant, who brought some biscuits, which she 
handed to Miss Hamilton and Nina, both of whom 
were very glad to have something less sweet to 
eat. 

Poor Miss Hamilton, who did not care for Russians 
or their parties, thought she had never been to such a 
long and wearisome tea-party. For an hour and a 
half they sat round the long table and drank tea and 
ate cakes. When every one seemed to have finished 
drinking, and Miss Hamilton, with joy, thought they 
were going to leave the table, their hostess would fill 
the teapot again with weak tea, and everybody would 
have another cup. 

Olga was there of course, but avoided Nina, who 
tried to speak to her twice without success. She 
looked very pale and unhappy, and when Miss 
Hamilton said, smiling, that she hoped that Olga 
would be the next, she only shook her head, and 
said, ‘ No ; I shall never marry.' 

To which Miss Hamilton replied, * Tut, tut ! those 
that say that are always the first to break their word. 
I shall expect an invitation to your betrothal before 
the year is out.' 

Olga did not say any more ; but her mother looked 


A RUSSIAN BETROTHAL. 237 

at her appealingly as she said to Miss Hamilton with 
a smile, ‘ Let us hope you are a good prophet.' 

‘ And I must say, Nina, much as I wish that that 
nice girl will find a good husband, I hope I shall not 
be a very quick prophet, for two of those tea-parties in 
a year would be more than I could stand. Fancy eat- 
ing platefuls of jam without anything, except dread- 
fully rich sweets and cakes ! It 's most indigestible ! 
I shouldn’t wonder if that was not at the bottom of the 
gloomy view people take of life here ; there ’s nothing 
like indigestion for that. Yes, that’s it; they are 
dyspeptic,’ decided Miss Hamilton, who, having found 
out the cause of the troubles of Kussia, leant back in 
her sledge with a look of satisfaction, which was far 
from being reflected upon the face of her niece. 


CHAPTER XX. 


NINA’S DREAM. 

I T was late when Nina and her aunt came home 
from the betrothal feast — just dinner-time, 
in fact ; though Miss Hamilton declared, with a 
groan, that she had lost her appetite for a week, in 
evidence of which she sat down and partook of a 
plateful of soup to take the taste of those dreadful 
jams and things out of her mouth. 

After dinner Nina had to set to work at her lessons 
for the next day, and in order to learn them properly 
she had to work till rather late. For Nina was too 
proud to sit in class not answering a word, as if she was 
an ignorant girl ; so she spent far longer at her lessons 
than she had ever done in England, and even then, of 
course, she could only get an idea of the subject. 

Perhaps it was working so late and going to bed 
with her brain overexcited, or perhaps it was the 
rich jams and sweets of all sorts that she had eaten, 
or more likely both combined, that made Nina have 
such troubled sleep ; but be the cause as it may, it is 
a fact that Nina never remembered passing such a 
night. 

A few minutes after she had gone to sleep there 


NINA’S DREAM. 


239 


came a knock at the door, and in answer to her in- 
quiry as to who it was, there came the reply dreaded by 
Russians, ‘ Open, in the name of the Czar ! ’ There is 
no denying this order, and Nina got up and dressed 
as quickly as she could, and then opened the door; but 
instead of the soldiers with fixed bayonets whom she 
expected to find, a figure wrapped in a thick, dark 
cloak motioned to her to follow. 

But Nina was not going to follow any stranger 
without some explanation, and said so ; whereupon the 
figure said, ‘ I am Olga Arthurovna. Come with me if 
you would be saved ! ’ 

Now Nina had not felt frightened at the call of the 
emissaries of the Czar, nor at the sight of this veiled 
figure. But at these words she began to tremble ; it 
was so mysterious ; and she threw on her fur cloak 
and followed down the silent staircase and along the 
snow-covered street, keeping close to her companion, 
who slunk along in the shadows of the houses, and not 
daring to speak or ask where they were going. So 
excited was she that she did not feel the cold ; on the 
contrary, she was quite warm, and only anxious to 
make as much haste as possible to escape — from what 
she did not know; but, she imagined, from exile to 
Siberia at least. 

After traversing street after street, across the Red 
Square, along by the Chinese wall, into a quarter of 


240 


NINA’S DREAM. 


Moscow that Nina had never seen, her guide stopped 
at a kind of fortified gateway, knocked at a little 
door, and gave a low whistle, which was answered by 
a similar one, and the door opened as if by a spring, 
for there was no one behind it. The two entered a 
spacious hall brilliantly illuminated, with a throne in 
the middle, on which sat a young man with grave, dark 
eyes, who rose as they approached, and said, ‘ Welcome, 
Nina Jacobovna ; welcome to the hall of freedom.’ 

‘ But — but,’ began Nina, bewildered — ‘ but — is this 
freedom ? ’ 

Ivan Ivanovitch smiled his inscrutable smile, and 
said, * Poor child, you do not yet know what is true 
freedom ! You were bound by chains, but we have 
saved you from that fate, and you shall know the 
truth ! ’ 

At this point, Nina’s courage being restored and 
her excitement calmed, she began to wonder what 
it all meant, and inquired, ‘ But what have you saved 
me from, please ? ’ 

Here Olga interposed. ‘From ignorance, and the 
danger of living a life of ease.* 

‘ Then I think you might have asked me whether I 
wanted to be saved or not before you woke me up in 
the middle of the night,’ she said indignantly. 

‘You would not have come; I know you better 
than you do yourself,’ replied Ivan Ivanovitch. 


NINA’S DKEAM. 


241 


*No, I shouldn’t; and now that I do know, I am 
going straight back to bed:’ and so saying, Nina 
turned to leave the hall of freedom. 

‘ Stay ; not so fast. You do not leave this place so 
easily ! He who has once tasted the sweets of freedom 
never goes back to slavery ! ’ cried Ivan Ivanovitch, 
barring the way with his hand. 

‘ Don’t they ? Then I will be the first ; I hate being 
tricked. I thought I was being saved from Siberia ; 
the soldiers woke me up,’ said Nina. 

‘You cannot be saved from that; this is the fortress 
where all prisoners for Siberia are kept till they are 
driven there like cattle,’ said her captor. 

Nina gave a cry of horror. ‘ You have tricked me, 
and it is very dishonourable of you ; and you said at 
the gallery that you did not want me to tell papa for 
fear of my getting into trouble. Oh, you are mean — 
mean ; and if that is what you call freedom, I am sorry 
for you ! ’ 

‘He is not dishonourable; he is only clever. He 
has tricked you all along. He went to the gallery to 
meet you. Did you not see him walking up and down 
outside waiting for you ? I told him that you would 
be there. You are so stupid, you English; you tell 
beforehand where you are going and what you are 
going to do, and you fall into traps so easily that it 

is no trouble to catch you.’ 

s.M. p 


242 


NINA’S DREAM. 


' I am going to get out of this trap, if I break the 
door down ! ’ cried Nina in a fury. 

But, with a dreadful shriek, the other prisoners fell 
upon her, and cried, ‘Too late! too late! You have 
promised to do what you can to help the cause, and 
you must stay with us now ! ’ 

Nina gave a cry of despair as a heavy hand was 
laid upon her shoulder and a voice said, ‘Why, Nina, 
Nina, what is the matter, dear ? What has frightened 
you?’ 

And opening her eyes, Nina saw her father standing 
beside her, and the electric light shining full upon her 
face as she lay in bed. 

‘ Oh papa, how did I get back into bed ? ’ cried 
Nina, rubbing her eyes. 

‘I didn’t know you had got out. All I know is 
that you were shrieking so terribly that I heard you 
in the dining-room, and came to see if you were ill.’ 

‘ She has just had a bad nightmare, and so have I. 
I dreamt that I was being taken off to Siberia ; and 
no wonder, after such indigestible things ! Now just 
listen to me, James ; we are going to no more Russian 
parties; we are not accustomed to their rich food, nor 
to so much of it, and you see what the result has 
been. There is Nina, trembling and flushed, as if she 
had a fever; and I am far from well,’ said Miss 
Hamilton, who had entered behind her brother, and 


NINA’S DREAM. 


243 


stood there a fearful apparition in nightcap and fur 
wrap. 

‘ I should think you might have had the strength 
of mind to refuse to eat more than you wanted,’ replied 
Mr Hamilton testily. 

‘It is not a case of strength of mind or the reverse; 
it is a matter of politeness. You cannot always 
refuse,’ declared Miss Hamilton. 

‘I most certainly could. You wouldn’t catch me 
eating till I made myself ill, out of politeness or any- 
thing else ! ’ retorted Mr Hamilton, who was feeling 
Nina’s pulse, and now sat down beside her ; while his 
sister, finding that Nina was not ill, went olF to bed. 

‘ I am all right, papa ; go to bed. I have only had 
a horrid dream,’ said Nina, shuddering as she spoke. 

‘ That ’s all right ; it ’s not bedtime for me yet, and 
I am going to sit here and smoke my last cigarette. 
But you can go to sleep again,’ said her father, lighting 
his cigarette as he spoke. 

‘I don’t want to go to sleep again,’ said Nina with 
another shiver. 

Her father looked at her keenly, but made no 
remark. Nor did he ask what her dream was, but 
began to talk of letters he had had from his brother, 
and to give her news of her girl-cousins, who sent all 
sorts of messages. ‘And they say they envy your 
seeing the Kremlin, and that the winter is so severe 


244 


NINA’S DREAM. 


in England that they don’t believe you can be any 
colder here than they are there,’ he wound up. 

Nina tried to take an interest in her cousins ; but 
the recollection of her dream was too vivid, and she 
only sighed as she said, ‘ I wish I were in England.’ 

Again Mr Hamilton did not ask why she wished it, 
but said, ‘ If you really wish it, I will send you back 
with your aunt as soon as you like.’ 

‘ Oh no, papa ; I would not leave you alone in this 

dreadful country for all the world. Papa’ she 

said abruptly. 

‘Well?’ he inquired, and as she did not continue, 
added, ‘ Why, Nina, you are not going to have secrets 
from your father, are you ? We are too good friends 
for that.’ 

‘ That ’s just it, papa ; I must, and I don’t like it,* 
cried Nina. 

‘ I don’t see any “ must ” about it, and, what is more, 
I don’t mean you to have any; you are far too young. 
Now, what have you been doing or saying that you 
don’t want me to know ? I suppose it ’s that rascal 
Ivan Kalska who has been trying to draw you into 
some of his scatter-brained plots ? ’ he added. 

But Nina did not answer; and when her father 
pressed her, she said, ‘Papa, I have promised, and 
you would not like me to break my promise, would 
you?’ 


NINA’S DREAM. 


245 


*No,’ said her father promptly ; ‘ if he is dishonour- 
able, that is no reason for you to be so. But in future, 
remember, you are to have no more secrets from me. 
Is that a promise, Nina ? ’ 

‘Yesf papa. But how did you know that Ivan 
Ivanovitch was dishonourable ? ’ 

‘ Don’t you think it is dishonourable of him to have 
underhand dealings with a child of your age ? And 
don’t you think it was dishonourable of him to way- 
lay you at the Tretiakoff Gallery, and pass himself 
off as a stranger, when he knew that if he had pre- 
sented himself under his proper name your aunt would 
have refused to speak to him ? And don’t you think 
it was dishonourable of him to put you in a false 
position and make you deceive your kind aunt ? ’ in- 
quired her father in reproachful accents. 

Nina did not attempt to defend herself or Ivan 
Ivanovitch; indeed, as regards the latter she had 
much the same opinion as her father, who had brought 
her up in the same principles as he held himself. But 
the thought that was uppermost in Nina’s mind was 
that it was extraordinary that her father should know 
all about the adventure of the morning, and a very 
disagreeable idea flashed across her mind. ‘Papa, 
how did you know all about this morning?’ she 
inquired with knitted brows. 

‘How indeed! How do you suppose, except by 


246 


Nina’s dream. 


being a little cleverer than Mr Kalska ? ’ replied her 
father. 

‘Did you send any one to look after us?’ said 
Nina in such a hurt tone that her father, understand- 
ing, replied : 

‘Not I. Did you think I had put a spy upon you ? 
No, thank you ; I don’t care for such ways. Honesty 
is the best policy, and I did not think it would ever 
be necessary for me to tell my little girl to be honest 
with me.’ 

‘I can’t help it; but I can promise you never to 
speak to Ivan Ivanovitch again without telling you.’ 

‘ You will not speak to him again at all — do you 
hear, Nina ? If he speaks to you, shake your head 
and give him this card ; ’ and so saying, Mr Hamilton 
took out his card and wrote in English : ‘ I forbid my 
daughter to speak to any person or persons unknown 
to me.’ 

‘ Oh papa, I could not give him that, and it would 
be no good, because — oh, I can’t explain ; but, indeed, 
you must trust me, and not forbid me to speak to 
him just once, to — to put something right!’ cried 
Nina. 

‘ I have not much faith in your power of putting 
things right with that wrong-headed young man, and 
I shall see if I can’t put things right myself,’ observed 
her father in such a determined tone that Nina did 


NINA’S DREAM. 


247 


not dare to say any more ; and soon afterwards she 
went off to sleep. But Mr Hamilton sat beside his 
daughter’s bedside till day dawned, with a very stern 
look on his face as he heard her sighs, which showed 
how unquiet she was even in her sleep. 

It was late when Nina woke the next morning; 
the sun was shining in at her window so brightly 
through the curtains that she took up her watch to 
see whether it was not much past her usual time for 
getting up, and found to her astonishment that not 
only was it past seven — at which time she had to get 
up to be in time for school — but past eight. She 
rang the bell vigorously, and Anna, with a smile on 
her face, arrived with hot water for her bath. 

‘ Awake at last. Miss Ernestina ? I began to think 
you never would wake up ! ’ cried Anna as she drew 
back the curtains. 

‘Why didn’t you wake me up, then?’ inquired 
Nina. ‘I shall be late for school, however much I 
hurry.’ 

‘It’s the master’s fault, miss. He said you was 
not to be wakened, not even if you slept on till 
dinner-time,’ returned Anna. 

‘ Well, I hope he has written a note of excuse or 
something. I don’t know what they do here if you 
are late, but I ’m sure they ’ll want a reason, or they ’ll 
imagine all sorts of things,’ said Nina. 


248 


NINA’S DEEAM. 


* I don’t know anything about that ; but the master 
has not gone out, so you can ask him to write one 
yourself,’ answered Anna. 

‘ Not gone out yet ? He is late ! You had better 
run and ask him to write one for me ; he may have 
started for the office before I am dressed,’ suggested 
Nina. 

Anna went off as desired, but returned in a minute 
to say, ‘ The master says there ’s no hurry, and he ’ll 
wait as long as you want, for he is going to take you 
to school himself this morning.’ 

Nina, who was doing her hair when this message 
came, stood with her hands poised in air for a 
moment, so surprised was she at this departure from 
his rule of leaving home at the same hour every 
morning when he went to his office. However, she 
only said, ‘Very well; come and tie back my hair, 
Anna;’ and shortly afterwards joined her father in 
the dining-room, where breakfast was laid for her, 
and her father sa</ in an arm-chair reading his paper 
— an English paper, nearly a week old, which had 
arrived that morning. 

‘ Well, I should think you have slept yourself back 
into good health again by this time, which is more 
than your aunt has,’ was her father’s greeting. 

‘ I don’t think I have been in bad health ; it was 
only a little indigestion, which Aunt Penelope declares 


Nina’s dream. 


249 


is all that is the matter with Russia,’ said Nina, 
laughing. Her good spirits seemed to have come 
back with the daylight. 

After breakfast was over, which Mr Hamilton would 
not let her hurry, Nina and her father set off for the 
Gymnase. 

They had not gone very far, when to her dismay 
Nina saw some one in the distance who looked very 
like Ivan Ivanovitch, and who was coming straight 
towards them. She was very much embarrassed as 
to what she should do. If she passed him without 
acknowledging him it would be deceit again, and 
towards her father; and if she acknowledged his 
acquaintance, her father might stop him and Hry 
to put things right,’ the thought of which made Nina 
very nervous. 

But before he could get near enough for Nina to be 
certain that it was Ivan, the person turned swiftly 
down a side-street. 

Mr Hamilton gave a glance at his daughter, and 
remarked, * I think that gentleman did not want to 
see me, eh ? ’ 

* Papa, how do you guess such things ? Do tell 
me. It worries me to have you guessing about me 
when I am out ; it is uncomfortable.’ 

Mr Hamilton replied gravely, ‘ It is uncomfortable 
to have to guess and keep an eye upon you, Nina, 


250 


NINA’S DREAM. 


and as soon as it is unnecessary I shall stop. But as 
to guessing such things — it was easy to see by the 
sudden manner in which that person turned out of 
our way that he wished to avoid either us or some 
one else, and from your face I guessed who he was,’ 
replied her father. 

* I was not sure myself ; he must have very good 
eyes,’ observed Nina. 

‘People who are always on the qui vive become 
very sharp, as I have; and as for yesterday, as 
I don’t want you to think that I am always watching 
you, I may as well tell you that I never dreamt that 
you would get into mischief in the TretiakofF Gallery, 
and it was only the account that your aunt gave of 
your queer behaviour towards her “ kind young 
Kussian ” that made me guess who he was. But now 
don’t let us think any more about him or such things ; 
you have your father to take care of you and to see 
that you are not made a cat’s-paw of by unscrupulous 
people. Yes, I know what you are going to say, that 
they have very noble views or some such stuff ; but 
I do not find it very noble to drag you, a foreigner 
and a child, into their mischief, and I don’t mean to 
let them do it ; so don’t you worry.’ 

As to which got the best of it in this struggle for 
poor innocent Nina, time will show. 


CHAPTER XXL 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 

N ina walked into school that morning with a 
feeling of security which she had not experi- 
enced for some time. Mr Hamilton went in with 
her, and made excuses for his daughter, blaming 
Russian hospitality for her late appearance. Nina 
noticed with surprise that he seemed to be on very 
good terms with the school oflBcials ; and every one, 
from the hall-porters, who all came to help him off 
with his fur coat and snow-shoes, to the head-mistress, 
showed him great politeness. She supposed that it 
was because he was rich, which was partly true ; but 
it was also because he was known to be on good 
terms with the governor and consul, and, in short, 
people in authority. 

At any rate, everybody smiled at Nina, and laughed 
at her sleeping off the effects of a betrothal feast. 
Nathalia especially was most anxious to explain to 
her that it was nothing to what a real feast is. 

* You see, we did it quite suddenly. Nikolai asked 
Zina that morning, and she accepted him, and they 
told papa and mamma, who immediately gave their 
consent; and it was Katerina who suddenly found 


252 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


out that the priest was next door with the holy 
picture, and asked that he might come and bless their 
betrothal. But if it had been a dinner! Then I 
could have understood that you would be tired, and 
perhaps have eaten things that did not agree together, 
for our dinners are very long. But you will see for 
yourself, for mamma says that she is going to give a 
large reception to introduce Nikolai to all the oflficials 
of Moscow, and you will be asked too to be with me 
while your father and aunt dine.* 

‘ Oh, but, Nathalia, Aunt Penelope is worse than I 
— that is to say, she is really not well. I have 
nothing the matter with me, but Aunt Penelope is 
in bed, and she says she is not strong enough to come 
to your parties,’ explained Nina, who thought she 
had better prepare Nathalia for a refusal, for she saw 
that the PoltiskofFs were very anxious to be friends 
with them, and would not like to be refused by Miss 
Hamilton, who, Nina was certain, would never go to 
a grand dinner, where she had to eat ' goodness knows 
what.’ 

As a matter of fact, the dinner never took place, 
for reasons that will appear later. So Nina might 
have saved herself her trouble. 

At all events, for that day things went very quietly. 
Nathalia walked home with Nina as usual, and they 
talked the whole time of Zina and Nikolai — who was 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


253 


such a nice man and such a brave officer, and who 
would have a beautiful house in Moscow to live in, 
so that Zina would not be separated from her mother — 
and of the beautiful dresses that would be bought in 
Paris, and Nina’s head was for the moment filled with 
cheerful thoughts. 

Moreover, her father’s conversation had had a great 
effect upon the girl. She was not so sure that she 
could manage her own affairs alone, and, at any rate, 
she was determined not to be made a * cat’s-paw 
of ’ by Ivan Ivanovitch ; and, absurd though it may 
seem, she resented his conduct in her dream. She 
told herself that of course it was all nonsense to think 
of it, but one thing that she had dreamt was true, 
and that was that Ivan Ivanovitch had not met 
them by accident at the gallery, and his conduct 
there made her very angry, and she hoped with all 
her heart that her father would be able to ‘put 
things right;’ and she decided that if he did not, she 
herself would insist upon speaking to Olga ; or if she 
still avoided her, that she would send Olga a letter by 
Nathalia. 

For the next few days she saw nothing of either 
Olga or her friend, and but for the policemen who 
stood at the street-corners with fixed bayonets, and 
the occasional prisoners whom she saw being con- 
veyed on carts along the streets to the prison, Nina 


254 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEETNG. 


would have forgotten that there was any Revolution 
past or present or future. 

Then one day, as she and Anna were out shop- 
ping, she saw Ivan Ivanovitch lurking in a door- 
way, evidently following them and avoiding being 
seen, when he caught Nina’s eye, and before she could 
look away he made a sign to her to come to that side 
of the road, where no doubt he would have put a note 
into her hand. But Nina took no notice except to 
shake her head, and hurried into a shop. 

‘ It ’s very convenient the way they have here of 
painting outside the shop the things they sell inside. 
Miss Ernestina. Now, if you want feathers, there is 
the shop with feathers painted outside ; and the same 
with boots, and meat, and groceries ; it saves a body 
a lot of trouble. I wonder why they don’t do that 
in England. I shall tell my brother-in-law to paint 
tobacco and sweets and matches over his shop-walls ; 
people often don’t know what a tradesman has in 
his shop,’ remarked Anna, who found this very con- 
venient, as she could go shopping by herself. 

‘It isn’t necessary in England, Anna; every one 
can read there, so they know that it is a grocer’s or 
tobacconist’s. But here the poor people can’t read, 
as a rule; that is why they do it.’ Nina had just 
said this when she felt some one tug at her skirt 
and attempt to put something into her hand. But 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


255 


before he could do so she pulled her hand away; 
and saying to Anna, ‘ Come, I want to get into this 
sledge,' she jumped into an empty sledge which hap- 
pened to be quite close to them, and giving the address 
to the driver, they drove off, leaving Ivan Ivanovitch 
standing in the narrow passage whither he had re- 
treated after Nina’s rebuff. 

Nina could not help looking back a little trium- 
phantly ; but at sight of Ivan Ivanovitch, who looked 
so gravely and sadly at her, her heart misgave her, 
and she wished she had stopped and spoken to him, 
or, at least, been a little more polite. However, it 
was too late now, and the only thing was to send him 
a note through Olga ; and that afternoon, when she 
got home, she sat down to do it, and managed to tell 
him as kindly as she could the mistake she had made, 
and that though she was sorry for the troubles of his 
country she could not help him. 

Well, it was done; she had effectually broken with 
Ivan Ivanovitch, and Nina ought to have felt relief 
and the satisfaction of a quiet conscience. But, rather 
to her own surprise, she found herself, against her 
will, sympathising with Ivan Ivanovitch and with 
what she imagined were his plans for doing good to 
the people. Nina had no opportunity of giving the 
letter to Nathalia for a day or two, for the head- 
mistress fell suddenly ill, and the school was shut for 


256 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


the rest of the week, and she did not see Nathalia 
that day, because they were invited to a large At 
Home at the house of a high official. 

Mr and Miss Hamilton were to stop longer than 
Nina for some cause, and the latter was to be fetched 
by Anna, who declared her ability to find her way 
there without any sledge or anything. ‘ You Ve only 
to say the name of the place you want, and they point 
it out to you ; and there ’s a policeman at every few 
yards, so it seems to me ; and they ’re that harmless, 
for all that they ’ve got a sword sticking up out of 
their guns, that I don’t mind asking them anything ; 
though, I must say, at first it did give me the shivers 
to have to speak to a man that had a spike sticking 
up behind his head handy to knife you with,’ she 
observed. 

This afternoon, however, Anna was a little too 
ambitious, and experienced the fact that pride comes 
before a fall. ‘ As you will be out all the afternoon, 
and I haven’t anything particular to do. Miss Ernestina, 
do you think I might go out too ? ’ she inquired. 

‘Why, you are coming to fetch me from these 
people ! ’ objected Nina. 

‘ I know, miss ; that ’s what made me say it. I 
shall have two hours before that to spare, and I 
thought, as I have to pass the Kremlin, I might go in 
and see it’ 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 257 

‘By yourself, Anna? Besides, you have seen it,' 
protested Nina. 

‘ Only a little bit, miss ; and ma’m’selle says she often 
slips in there to look at the churches, specially that 
one all jewels. We haven’t seen that.’ 

‘ You mean the one where the czars are crowned ? 
Well, I am sure Aunt Pen won’t mind ; only take 
care you don’t get lost or go anywhere you are 
not allowed,’ was Nina’s parting advice. 

Anna, with a toss of the head, assured her that she 
was not likely to do any such thing ; and Nina, rather 
amused at Anna’s copying the PoltiskofFs’ ma’m’selle, 
and going in for doing the sights of Moscow, went off 
with her father and aunt, after reminding Anna that 
she was to fetch her at four o’clock, and saying, ‘ Mind 
you ’re not late, as I shall have had quite enough of 
it by then ; and, besides, it is a grown-up party after 
that.’ 

However, four o’clock came, and half-past four, and 
Nina began to think that Anna was never coming ; so 
she went out into the wide hall, and looked over the 
balustrades down into the lower hall to see if there 
was any sign of the maid. From where she stood she 
could see the hall-porters standing in their gorgeous 
liveries waiting to remove the furs of the visitors, 
which were hung up all round the hall, making it 

look like a furrier’s, Nina thought, only that there 

S.M. Q 


258 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


was also a row of snow-boots lining the wall, which 
one would not find in a furrier s shop. 

‘ I expect Anna will be shy when she comes in and 
sees all these grand servants/ said Nina to herself, 
and she had hardly uttered the words when one of the 
aforesaid servants went to the door to open it, and in 
came Anna, rather flushed and worried-looking. She 
walked up to one of the men, and seating herself on 
one of the chairs put for the guests to sit to have 
their snow-boots taken off, she said, with a peremptory 
wave of the hand, almost kicking the tall, dignified 
servant with her damp, snowy boot, ‘Here, fellow, 
take off my boots ! ’ 

Nina was not sure whether she was most astonished 
or angry or amused, the tone was such an exact 
imitation of Miss Hamilton’s when she was very 
haughty, only that Miss Hamilton was tall and 
dignified, and would not have said ‘fellow/ whereas 
Anna was small and insignificant-looking, so that the 
effect was ludicrous, and such behaviour very sur- 
prising, not to say annoying, because the Russians 
would know that she was a servant. 

But the moment afterwards Anna’s pride had a 
fall, and Nina laughed aloud to herself as she heard 
a voice say, ‘Now then, young woman, who do you 
think you ’re a-kicking of ? You keep your boots to 
yourself, and you take and fetch them off* yourself, 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


259 


if you can’fc keep a civil tongue in your head and 
don’t know how to treat Christians different to that ! ’ 

To say that Anna was surprised is to put it mildly. 
She sat up and gazed open-mouthed at the gorgeous 
servant in Russian livery who had answered her in 
such good English, with such an astonished expression 
on her face that the man’s indignation changed into 
amusement, as he observed, ‘ You didn’t think you was 
speaking to a freeborn Englishman, did you, miss ? ’ 

‘Oh, I’m sure’ began Anna, with crestfallen 

face. And then she got up, shook the man by both 
hands, and exclaimed, ‘Well, there! I’m that glad to 
speak to a decent English fellow-creature, which I 
haven’t done since I left England, that I ’m not sorry 
I did it, since it made you speak ; though, as for 
kicking you, I ’m sure I never did such a thing in my 
life, and if you’d been a Russian it wouldn’t have 
mattered, would it ? ’ 

‘ I don’t know so much about that ; they ’re apt 
to turn nasty if you ill-treat them nowadays, and I 
should advise you to be more civil — it doesn’t do 
one any harm. But what’s the matter with your 
family ? Ain’t they respectable ? ’ he inquired. 

‘ Respectable !’ cried Anna in horrified tones. ‘What- 
ever are you talking about ? Respectable 1 Why, 
they’re one of the highest families here; and you 
should see the house we live in 1 ’ 


260 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


‘Well, you said you hadn’t spoken to a decent 
English person since you left England ! ’ exclaimed 
the man. 

‘ I don’t call my family “ persons,” ’ said Anna with 
dignity. ‘I only meant folk like you and me. I 
have had such a time as never was this afternoon, all 
through not having any one to go out with in Moscow. 
Have you got any wife or any one who ’d be friendly 
with me ? ’ she inquired almost wistfully. 

‘ No ; I haven’t got any one here. I ’m all alone 
like yourself ; but if I can be of any use — I am often 
free ; there ’s not much to do in Russian service — I ’ll 
take you about, if you ’re willing,’ replied the man. 

‘ Well, it would be better than nothing,’ said Anna 
grudgingly. ‘I’d have been glad of your company 
this afternoon at the Kremlin, for I did wrong there 
through not speaking this awful language.’ 

‘Whatever did you do? I thought you looked 
flustered when you came in,’ replied the young 
Englishman, who had such a good-natured, honest 
face that Nina decided that he would be a good com- 
panion for Anna to ‘ walk out ’ with. 

‘I should think I might look flustered, being 
hustled about as I’ve been, and upset. Not that I 
meant any harm, but I went into the Kremlin palace 
along with a lot of other folk, and there the man was 
explaining about a carpet, a rare pretty one, all 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


261 


worked like patchwork, and I just stepped forward 
to have a good look at the material; but I hadn’t 
hardly touched it when all the folk began to holler 
at me, and the man who was taking us round took 
and pushed me out of the room and gave me over to 
another porter, or some such fellow, and he took me 
down corridors, and goodness knows where I didn’t 
go ; and at last I came to a room where there were a 
lot of gentlemen, and not one of them could speak 
English ; only they asked for my passport.’ 

‘ And you had it, I hope ? ’ interrupted her new 
friend anxiously. 

‘No fear! I wouldn’t stir a step without that 
sheet of paper, not for all the money in the world — 
not in this dreadful country. Anyway, after they ’d 
looked at it, they said something to each other, and 
let me go. But I ’m nice and late as it is, and didn’t 
ought to be wasting my time talking to you, so you 
might go and tell my young lady. Miss Hamilton, 
that I ’m here.’ 

‘I’ll send one of the men; but if you take my 
advice, you ’ll not say anything about what you did 
in the Kremlin, or they won’t let you out again. 
You tried to touch the Czar’s carpet, that ’s what you 
did, and of course they were angry,’ said the man. 

‘ And what harm if I had touched it ? My hands 
were quite clean,’ retorted Anna. 


262 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


‘That doesn’t matter; they don’t allow any liber- 
ties with the Czar’s property, and the carpet he has 
walked on is sacred to them,’ he replied. 

‘ Oh, well, I shall know better another time, and I 
shall take your advice and not mention it to my 
ladies ; they ’re very particular.’ 

‘ Well, Anna,’ said Nina when she came downstairs, 
‘ and how did you get on at the Kremlin ? ’ 

‘ Oh, beautifully ! I saw all sorts of things that I 
had never seen before. And, oh, miss ! there ’s a 
wonderful carpet; it’s been made specially for the 
Czar by hand by nuns, and it ’s well worth looking 
at,’ said Anna. 

‘ If it belongs to the Czar, you know you must not 
go near it. I hope you were careful ? ’ said Nina 
mischievously, to see what Anna would reply, for she 
knew that Anna would not tell a lie on any account. 

‘Well, I didn’t know that; but, of course, one 
learns such things. And, miss, there was such a queer 
little room where Napoleon lived; and, miss, one of 
those Russian servants is an Englishman,’ said Anna. 

‘ How can he be English if he is a Russian ? ’ de- 
manded Nina, rather amused at the clever way Anna 
had avoided answering her question. 

‘ Of course not. I meant he was not a Russian, 
and we had quite a friendly conversation together. 
I was quite pleased to see an English servant, for it 


ANNA GOES SIGHT-SEEING. 


263 


is a bit lonesome with only Russians to talk to, and 
he told me about his family, and he dl be at church 
on Sunday, and he ’s known to the English chaplain,' 
said Anna, talking very fast. 

‘ Then he ’ll marry you cheap, perhaps,’ suggested 
Nina. 

‘ I haven’t thought of such a thing yet — not at all, 
I mean,’ added Anna hurriedly and with offended 
dignity. 

Nina laughed. Anna was more childish than her- 
self, and having been brought up in the country, 
knew less of the ways of the world than most girls of 
her position or age; so that Nina often treated her 
like a child, and was very fond of her in spite of her 
occasional liberties, because, as has been said, they 
had been playfellows when tiny children; and she 
really sympathised with Anna’s new friendship, and 
helped it on, which was a very good thing, as after- 
wards turned out. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 

HE next day Nina, in whose pocket the letter 



JL to Ivan Ivanovitch burned, determined to go 
and see Nathalia, and, as she had decided, either 
give the letter to Olga herself, or, failing that, 
hand it to Nathalia to give to her sister. Miss 
Hamilton gave Nina leave to go to the PoltiskofFs’ 
without making any objection, except insisting that 
Nina should take Anna with her, which Nina thought 
quite unnecessary. 

They were walking along very briskly as usual, 
for it was still cold — in fact, Nina thought she felt 
the cold during the thaw more than in the frost — 
when they noticed walking in front of them a young 
man with a red tie, or, to be correct, a red hand- 
kerchief round his neck instead of a tie, and Nina 
knew him at once to be a revolutionary ; but as he 
was not her bugbear, Ivan Ivanovitch, she would not 
have taken any notice of him but for a strange thing 
that happened. 

The young man, who was walking fast like them- 
selves, started suddenly, and seemed as if he would 
turn and go up a side-passage ; but almost before he 


A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 265 

had made a step in that direction, he apparently 
changed his mind and walked on as before. 

‘Do you suppose that young gentleman is drunk, 
miss, or why did he start and change about like 
that ? ' inquired Anna. 

Nina, who had noticed the same thing, was going 
to reply that she did not know, though the idea had 
come into her head that he wanted to avoid some 
one, only that there was no one but a policeman in 
sight at the moment, the road they were in being 
a narrow and little frequented one. But before she 
could answer, the young man had come up to the 
policeman, who politely saluted him, and stopped him 
to say something to him. At the same moment from 
out of a doorway, where no doubt he had been hiding, 
another man appeared, and began searching the 
pockets of the young Russian. 

‘ Well, I never, miss ! There ’s impudence for you ! 
I’m glad I’m not a Russian, and that I have no 
papers they want to look at ! But whatever is the 
matter, Miss Ernestina? You look as white as a 
ghost. It won’t do him any harm if he ’s not done 
wrong. You mustn’t take things so to heart.’ 

‘Oh Anna, do be quiet with your chatter!’ cried 
poor Nina, who might well be pale as she thought 
of the letter which was in her pocket, and which, if 
read, would get both Olga and Ivan Ivanovitch into 


266 A DISAGKEEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 

trouble. She did not know whether it might not be 
the custom to have certain streets in which these 
special police were stationed on certain days to 
search every one who came along ; and in that case 
what was she to do ? The letter itself was harmless 
enough, and she had begun it without any name, 
and only said: ‘I am very sorry that I made you 
misunderstand me the other day. I cannot help 
you or your cause, partly because my father forbids 
me to speak to you, and also because I do not believe 
in interfering in the politics of other people. And, 
please forgive me, I don’t think you will, either of 
you, do any good even if you did get up a revolution.’ 
That was all. Nina did not sign her name, so that 
there was no clue as to who had written the letter, 
nor to whom it was written ; but the envelope — that 
was the difficulty ! Nina had written Olga’s full 
name on it, and added the request that it might be 
passed on to Ivan Ivanovitch. 

If they searched her, the envelope would betray 
her friends. Quick as thought, and much quicker 
than it has been possible to write this down, Nina 
put her hand in her muff and tore open the envelope, 
left the letter in the muff, and taking out the thin 
envelope — for it was one of the tiny ones she used to 
enclose notes in for England — she tore off the small 
strip with writing on it, and was going to tear it up ; 


A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 267 

but at that moment she saw that the policeman 
was looking at her, and she stooped down, scooped 
up a little snow, and swallowed it — and the bit of 
paper ! 

‘ Miss, whatever could you be thinking of ? If you 
were thirsty, why didn’t you wait till you got to 
Miss Nathalia’s ? Fancy eating that dirty snow !’ 

‘ It wasn’t very dirt}''. I took it from the edge of 
the path where it had not been trampled upon,’ 
observed Nina. 

‘ It wasn’t any too clean for all that, I ’ll warrant. 
They say snow is very deceptive; I only hope it 
won’t give you typhoid or something dreadful,’ was 
Anna’s consoling remark. 

She had just given vent to it, when they came up 
to the policeman and the other two Russians, the one, 
as Nina had guessed, a member of the secret police 
of Moscow; and the latter, saluting very politely, 
requested leave to search her. 

For answer Nina brought out her passport; and 
Anna, who had an idea that in it lay her safety, 
took hers out too, and talking as usual in English, 
which she thought if spoken very loud would be at 
least partly understood, said, ‘We’re not Russians; 
we’re English, and must not be interfered with. 
This paper is to say so. 

As neither the policeman nor his fellow took the 


268 A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 

slightest notice of Anna or her passport, to say nothing 
of her oration, it was words wasted. 

The passport which Nina handed them they did 
examine, and had a consultation with each other 
over it. 

The young Russian meanwhile, instead of going 
on, stood and watched the proceedings, and happened 
to glance at Nina’s face, and then his own changed. 
‘Miss, do not look so terrified; there is no danger 
for you,’ he said kindly in French. 

Nina tried to smile, but only made such a piteous 
attempt that the Russian began to think she must 
either be very nervous or have something wrong with 
her passport, and said to the police-agents, ‘ You are 
frightening the young English lady to death. I 
should advise you to be careful ; the English are not 
pleasant if you touch one of their freeborn subjects.’ 

‘We should like, at least, to look in her muff,’ said 
the secret agent. ‘ She was seen to bring out a paper 
and bury it in the snow ; we should like to see the 
rest of the contents.’ 

‘ I should think you had better go and search the 
snow,’ suggested the young Russian, who, having 
glanced at the passport, saw that it was in order. 

‘ We are going to do that later,’ replied the man. 

Meanwhile Nina, in her nervousness, had twisted 
up the note into a little ball, and, almost without 


A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 269 

knowing what she was doing, she pushed it into 
her glove. Consequently when the man felt in her 
muff he found nothing ; nor did he have any better 
success with her pockets, and, at his colleague’s 
suggestion, tried Anna’s, whose indignation would 
have amused Nina at another time, but now only 
made her more nervous. 

The men then went back to where Nina had scooped 
up the snow, and as it was not snowing it was easy 
to see where the snow had been touched. In vain 
they kicked the snow about with their feet; there 
was nothing to be found. 

The young Russian was by this time very much 
interested in the two English strangers who had been 
subjected to the same examination as himself, and 
who he began to think must be suspicious subjects, 
and therefore friends. 

‘ Miss, if I can be of any use,’ he began ; ' if I can 
translate any explanation, not necessarily the true 
one’ 

But Nina shook her head, and said, * Oh no, thank 
you,’ in such decided tones that the young Russian 
had nothing to do but take off his hat and depart. 

And after writing something in his book, the secret 
agent of the police went off, and Nina and Anna 
were free to continue on their way, which they did 
in much reduced spirits. 


270 A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 

^You wait and see what the master’ll say when 
he hears about this ! He ’ll be nice and angry ! I ’m 
sure, I never saw such a suspicious lot in my life; 
and to us English, too, who haven’t never done any- 
thing! I’ll tell you what I think. Miss Ernestina, 
and that is, if they were to look after the real bad 
people, the country would be a deal better!’ cried 
Anna, who was furious. 

But Nina did not answer. All the time she was 
saying to herself that she wished she had not been 
so silly as to attract the attention of the men by her 
act, and she firmly made up her mind never to carry 
any letter about with her. 

At the door of the PoltiskofFs’ house they met Olga, 
and there was no avoiding her, nor could she avoid 
them, seeing which she held out her hand to Nina, 
and said, with her pleasant smile — and Olga had a 
very pretty smile — ‘ How do you do, Nina ? You 
look very pale. I remember I told you you would 
not long look rosy in Moscow.’ 

‘Oh Miss Olga, it’s not Moscow — at least, it’s 
Moscow ways that are making her look like that ! 
We ’ve just had the police on us ! ’ cried Anna. 

Olga, who had just been going to say good-bye, 
stopped short and looked hard at Nina, who said, 
‘ I have a letter to give you.’ 

‘ Did they see it ? ’ inquired Olga anxiously. 


A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 


271 


*Oh my! Then they were right; you had some- 
thing to hide ? Well then, Miss Ernestina, I ’m sorry 
to say it, but I think you might have more considera- 
tion for other folk, even if they re only your maid, 
than to drag them down to being searched because 
you carry letters 1 ’ cried Anna. 

* Your mistress is quite enough upset without your 
adding to it by being impertinent 1 ’ said Olga severely; 
and Anna, coming to her senses, was silent. 

Motioning to Anna to follow them, Olga led the 
way upstairs and into her sanctum, the walls of which 
were lined with books. Then opening a further door, 
she sent Anna in there, saying to Nina, ‘I think she 
had better not go to see ma’mselle just now, or 
she will be talking and telling her things in her 
excitement. And now, tell me, from whom is the 
letter ? ’ 

‘It is from me to Ivan Ivanovitch. I wanted to 
tell him that I could not speak to him any more.’ 

‘ Where is the letter, and how did you manage to 
hide it, and what made the police search you ? They 
do not touch schoolgirls and foreigners, unless they 
are known to be in touch with us,’ said Olga. 

Nina told the whole story, and handed her the 
note, which was almost indecipherable with all the 
twisting and crumpling it had had. 

Olga sighed. ‘Oh Nina, what a help you would 


272 


A DISAGKEEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 


have been! To think of your swallowing that bit 
of paper! It was clever of you. I would rather 
trust you than many girls twice your age. It is 
only your English narrow-minded prejudices that 
hold you back. If you really knew our programme, 
you would see how harmless it is. It will be so 
easily managed, our Kevolution, and the whole face 
of the country will be changed; it is really only a 
changing of a few laws and making some good new 
ones.' 

‘ I 'm very sorry, Olga, but I don’t see how I could 
help to change your laws,’ said Nina, who, as usual 
when with Olga, began to sympathise with her and 
her views. 

Olga began to explain eagerly, and in the course 
of her remarks let fall the admission that funds were 
lacking. 

‘If money is any use, I will give you that. I 
have pocket-money that I may do what I like with,* 
said Nina, and she drew out her purse and emptied 
the contents into Olga’s lap. 

The latter, to do her justice, had not meant to 
hint at this, and was very unwilling to take it ; but 
at that moment a knock came to the door, which 
she had locked, and Nathalia’s voice was heard saying, 
‘If Nina is there, mamma would like to see her at 
once.’ 


A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 273 

*Go, and don’t tell any one you have helped me/ 
said Olga, kissing her. 

Nina had no time to make any reply, for, calling 
Anna in, Olga unlocked the door, and almost pushed 
Nina out. 

Nathalia looked very worried. ‘I did not know 
you had come, Nina. — And I thought you had gone 
out, Olga ? ’ she said coldly. 

‘I did go out, but I met Nina at the door and 
turned back to have a chat with her,’ said Olga, 
smiling. 

Nathalia walked away with Nina without saying 
a word, and Nina saw that Nathalia was vexed. But, 
after all, she had a right to talk to Olga — her father 
had not forbidden that ; nor would he object to her 
speaking to Olga, since it was to end her friendship 
with Ivan ; nor would he mind her giving money to 
Olga as long as she did nothing to help the revolu- 
tionaries herself. 

Madame PoltiskofF was very busy writing out 
invitations for her great reception, at which all the 
officers of Nikolai’s regiment were to appear, as well 
as all important Muscovites. ‘Which will be such 
a good thing for us just now, because it will show 
that one of us, at least, is on the side of the Govern- 
ment/ explained Nathalia, who heard her father and 
mother speak thus, for they kept nothing from her, 

S.M. R 


274 A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSi’OM. 

with the result that she was getting much too old 
for her age. 

Nina had so little to say that Nathalia began to 
suspect that Nina’s visit had not been meant for her 
at all, but for Olga, and was not surprised when Nina, 
who felt as if she could not sit there and make con- 
versation while her head was full of other thoughts, 
got up to go. 

Anna, ashamed as usual of her impudence, walked 
quite quietly beside her young mistress, trying by 
little attentions to show that she was sorry. 

Nina was feeling rather depressed at the prospect of 
having to tell her father of the disagreeable adventure 
of the morning, which she was quite determined not 
to hide from him, and was not inclined to talk ; and 
poor Anna put Nina’s silence down to displeasure at 
her manners, which Nina was always telling her 
were very bad for a maid, and she made up her 
mind to ‘ be careful what she said,’ a piece of advice 
that old Nana in England had often given her, but 
which she had never followed, and did not follow 
now — at least, not for some time, and then only after 
a severe lesson. 

Nina went straight to her father’s smoking-room, 
and fortunately found him there, and without delay 
told him the whole story. 

Mr Hamilton sat there and listened to it with as 


A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 275 

impassive a countenance as a Russian, Nina could 
not help thinking; he did not even stop smoking, 
and Nina was afraid he was very angry, for her 
father was quieter the angrier he was. She waited 
for him to scold her, but he did nothing of the 
sort. 

Knocking the ashes off the end of hi^ cigarette, he 
remarked very quietly, ‘I hope now that you have 
decided that you cannot put things straight yourself, 
and had better let your old father manage them for 
you.’ 

‘ But, father, I did put them straight at last ! ’ cried 
Nina. ‘ I have made Olga understand that I will not 
help her!’ cried Nina, who, now that her father took 
the police search so calmly, felt more cheerful. 

‘And as a proof that you will not help her, you 
give her money to go on with her mad plans,’ 
observed her father ; ‘ not to mention getting yourself 
noted by the police. Do you think they will let you 
alone now ? ’ 

‘ Oh papa, they found nothing !’ cried Nina. 

‘ No, because you had swallowed it ; but they 
wanted to have an explanation of your grovelling 
in the snow when you saw them. And if I had 
not fortunately explained your anxiety about your 
nose ’ began Mr Hamilton. 

But Nina cried in amazement, ‘ You, papa ? What 


276 A DISAGREEABLE RUSSIAN CUSTOM. 

do you mean ? You were not there — how could you 
explain anything ? * 

‘ Because they came to me for an explanation, and 
I, thinking that it was your usual habit of rubbing 
your nose with snow if you thought it was getting 
cold, told them so, and sent them away laughing and 
quite satisfied, because it appears they had noticed 
your hand go to your face. But I sincerely hope this 
is the last time I shall have any worry about this 
nonsense,’ he said. 

‘Yes, indeed, papa! Nothing will induce me to 
have anything to do with revolutionaries; it’s too 
unpleasant,’ declared Nina. 

‘ I don’t want you to abstain because a thing is 
unpleasant, but becau";e it is wrong, and you will 
know one day that I was right and these people very 
misguided, to give their doings a mild name. At 
any rate, I forbid you to speak to either of them 
again, and your duty is to obey. And I should like 
to say this, Nina, for I see the question in your eyes. 
I hope I should be prepared to suffer for my principles, 
and not to give them up because they brought me 
into personal danger ; but I have a right to prevent 
your running into danger, and I mean to do so.’ 


CHAPTER XX II I 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


HE snows were still half-melted in Moscow, 



and as Natasha and Nina walked home from 


the Kremlin, through the grounds of which they 
had been taking a walk, they had to step gingerly to 
avoid the little streams that flowed down the pipes 
from the roofs and across the pavement. 

‘ I say, Natasha, how much longer are these heaps 
of snow going to take to melt ? ’ inquired Nina, as she 
took a flying leap to avoid a stream larger than usual 
which flowed across the pavement into the street from 
a huge heap of melting snow in a courtyard. 

‘ I dare say it will all be gone in another fortnight 
if this mild weather lasts and the sun shines. But 
why do you grumble so — I suppose your snow melts 
in England ? ’ 

‘ It does not take so long, and Good gracious, 

how dangerous ! ' Nina exclaimed, as a miniature 
avalanche fell from a roof and just grazed her 
shoulder. 

‘You should not walk so near to the houses. I 
have told you of that before,’ was all Nathalia 
said. 


278 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


‘ That 's cool, when I might have been killed ! ’ cried 
Nina. * And just look at my velvet coat — ruined ! ’ 

‘Yes,’ said Nathalia; ‘I thought to myself when 
you put on that lovely coat that you did not know 
Moscow. We never dress for the streets; one gets 
too splashed by the droshkys, not to speak of the 
snow from the house-tops.’ 

‘You ought to have it cleared off, as we do in 
England,’ declared Nina with decision, as she rue- 
fully wiped her soaked velvet. ‘It’s dirty snow, 
too !’ 

‘Of course it is; and as for cleaning it off, what 
would be the use of that ? It would be too hard ; 
they would break the roof in doing it. But never 
mind about your pelisse; I have something most 
important and exciting to talk about.’ 

‘ If it ’s about revolutions ’ began Nina hastily. 

‘It has nothing to do with such things; it has to 
do with a “ spiffing ” for you and me,’ said Nathalia. 

‘ A what ? ’ inquired Nina, puzzled. 

‘ A “ spiffing ” — a “jolly ; ” that ’s what you call it 
when it is something nice.’ 

‘“Spiffing” is an adjective, and slang, and so is 
“jolly,” and it sounds all right when an English 
person says those words ; but it sounds horrid when 
you do. But if you must use them, say a “jolly 
idea.’” 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


279 


‘Very well. I shall say “jolly,” because I like it, 
and it is a “jolly idea.” It is to go to Petersburg — 
you and I together. Would you like it ? ' 

‘ You and I alone ? ’ said Nina. ‘ Isn’t it rather far ? ’ 

‘Only four hundred miles; and we should nob be 
alone — mamma is coming too’, replied Nathalia, as if 
she had said four miles instead of four hundred. 

‘ You talk as if it was in the suburbs of Moscow,’ 
objected Nina. ‘ That ’s the way with you Russians ; 
your country is so big that you think nothing of long 
distances.’ 

‘But this is really not far; you can go there in 
twelve hours if you travel at night, which we always 
do, because it takes twenty-four hours by the day- 
train.’ 

‘ What a slow train ! Why, we go from London to 
Edinburgh in about eight hours, and it is about the 
same distance.’ 

‘Yes; but you are always having awful accidents, 
and we are not. But how you do argue ! I wanted 
to tell you that mamma has to go to Petersburg for 
a few days, and she said I might come too, and ask 
you to come with me.’ 

‘ Oh, I should love it ! I want to see St Petersburg 
before we leave Russia.’ 

‘ Are you thinking of leaving ? ’ inquired Nathalia 
quickly, and the ready tears came into her eyes. 


280 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


‘ I do not know ; but, at any rate, I shall not stay 
more than two years.’ 

‘ Then do not let us talk of it ; we may all be dead 
in two years, so why bother ? However, now I will 
tell mamma that you will come.’ 

‘If Aunt Penelope and papa let me,’ said Nina. 

‘ You know. Aunt Pen may think it a long way to go 
for a few days.’ 

‘But it is so easy. You get into the train one 
evening, and go to bed, and the next morning you 
wake up at Petersburg.’ 

‘But I should like to see the scenery,’ remarked 
Nina. 

‘ There is nothing to see — only a flat, dreary plain.’ 

‘I am sure there must be something to look at. 
Why, we pass the Valdai Hills,’ objected Nina. 

‘I do believe all that your geography books tell 
you of Russia is that there are two towns, Petersburg 
and Moscow, and one hill, the Valdai ’ 

‘I beg your pardon, I know lots of towns — Arch- 
angel, and several in the Crimea,’ added Nina wickedly, 
‘ But I will try to get leave. When do you start ? ’ 

‘To-morrow, as we have holidays owing to the 
illness of the head-mistress.’ 

This was short notice; but Nathalia’s mother 
evidently thought no more of the journey than is 
thought in England of a trip to Brighton from 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


281 


London, and as Mr Hamilton had no objection, the 
three set off, with the French gouvernante and Anna 
in attendance. 

It certainly was very easy travelling; the train 
went so smoothly, and did not tire the travellers as 
express travelling does. Nina slept like a top, and 
woke up quite fresh, and was able to endorse 
Nathalia’s statement that there was no scenery worth 
looking at, not even the Valdai Hills. 

‘ Natasha, what are those big fields of green plants ? ’ 
demanded Nina as the train approached the city. 

‘Cabbages for your favourite soup,' she replied 
teasingly, for Nina, as she knew, hated cabbage-soup, 
which the Russians are so fond of in some form or 
other. 

Nina shuddered. ‘I shall not eat any, so I give 
you warning.’ 

‘Now, children, we will go straight to our hotel 
and have coffee, and then, as I have business to attend 
to, ma’m’selle will take you to see the city. Is there 
anything you particularly want to see at Petersburg, 
Nina ? ’ Madame Poltiskoff inquired. 

‘ I should like to see the relics of Peter the Great,’ 
said Nina ; ‘ but he is not the only king I know. I 
have also heard of Ivan the Terrible; and, funnily 
enough, we had a wicked king called Ivan too.’ 

‘Miss Ernestina, when did that king live?’ asked 


282 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURa 


Anna as they were crossing St Isaac’s Square on 
their way to the cathedral of the same name. * I 
learnt English history at school, but I have never 
heard of him.’ 

‘ Yes, you have, Anna ; only in English we call him 
John — Ivan is only Russian for John.’ 

‘Now, Nina, we must climb to the top of the 
cathedral to have a good view of Petersburg. Will 
you be too tired ? ’ inquired Nathalia. 

‘ Oh dear, no ! — Come along, Anna ! ’ cried Nina as 
she sprang up the spiral staircase ; then — in spite of 
protestations from the Frenchwoman of its being too 
dangerous — across the leads, and up half-a-dozen 
corkscrew staircases, till they came out on to the roof 
and saw the broad Neva — so wide that Nina could 
not at first grasp the fact that it was a river. 

‘ Oh miss, look at the ships ! Perhaps some of them 
are going to England. Oh, doesn’t it make you feel 
homesick ? ’ exclaimed Anna. 

‘No,’ said Nina stoutly; ‘it makes me feel that, 
after all, we are not so far from England. But what 
a fine sight ! ’ 

‘Yes; I thought you would call it “spiff” — no, you 
prefer “jolly,”’ Nathalia corrected herself. 

‘ I prefer neither one nor the other,’ said Nina, who 
felt slang unsuitable to the occasion. ‘No educated 
person would call a view like this “jolly.”* 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


283 


‘Why not? What would they say?’ protested 
Nath alia. 

‘ Glorious, or grand, or fine. But what is that very 
wide street ? ’ 

‘Nevski Prospekt, our chief street.’ 

‘It is the widest I have ever seen; hut all the 
squares and streets here are wide, and the Petersburg 
people must be frightfully rich to live in such big 
houses,’ observed Nina. 

‘ Oh yes, they are rich,’ said Nathalia indifferently. 
‘ But come, let us descend ; the air is cold in spite of 
the sun, and we have to take a drive out into the 
country.’ 

‘I hate driving now that the snow is gone; the 
streets are so uneven and the cobbles so horrid that 
you get jolted to pieces,’ objected Nina. 

‘ Then we had better take a tram to the outskirts, 
and hire a carriage there,’ said the accommodating 
Nathalia. 

And off they went, without asking leave; Nathalia 
just settled it herself. Kussian girls are very in- 
dependent and decided. Nina used sometimes to 
wonder what there was about this Russian girl that 
made her love Nathalia so, and, indeed, what made 
her like all her schoolfellows. 

‘Do you like us as well as your English school- 
fellows ? ’ Nathalia would ask wistfully of Nina. 


284 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


don’t know that I like you all as well, but I 
like you better than any other girl I have seen as 
yet,’ said Nina, and found herself rather surprised at 
the admission. 

‘Fancy! I wonder if I should like English girls as 
well as you do Kussian ? ’ returned Nathalia. 

‘Oh no,’ said Nina, not seeing what her reply 
seemed to imply. And then she said, after some 
thought, ‘I don’t know how it is, but when some 
French girls came to our school we liked them very 
much; but we found that they had not a bit the 
same ideas as we had, and had been brought up quite 
differently ; and even two German girls seemed quite 
foreign. But you seem to have the same way of 
looking at things as we have, and I never think 
of you as a foreigner, somehow.’ 

Nathalia was flattered by Nina’s appreciation, and 
replied, ‘ Well, of course, I have never met an English 
girl before ; but I feel just as if you were my sister ; ’ 
and then she sighed, remembering her sister Olga, 
and how different she was from Nina. 

The next day, at Nina’s express desire, the two 
friends went to see the Hermitage. 

‘Though why you are so anxious to see Peter 
the Great’s relics, as you call them, I cannot under- 
stand,’ Nathalia observed. ‘Is he such a hero in 
England ? ’ 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


285 


‘ I suppose because I have seen the house he lived 
in in England, and have heard so many anecdotes 
about him.’ 

‘ And was it a very fine palace that he lived in ? ’ 

*No; only a small house in a narrow street off 
the Strand, which is not a fashionable part of 
London.’ 

‘ Of course that is because he did not go to England 
to be fashionable, but to learn. Look, there is his 
statue on that huge mountain of granite. It was a 
dreadful trouble to bring it here; Peter had it 
dragged to its place.’ 

‘ That would have pleased Peter,’ said Nina. ' But 
he was rather dictatorial. You know, they say that 
in England once he saw our barristers with their 
wigs and gowns, and when he was told what they 
were, he said, “ All lawyers I Why, I have only two 
in all my dominions, and I believe I shall hang one 
of them the moment I get home again.” ’ 

‘I suppose he had done something wrong,’ said 
Nathalia indifferently. ‘ Look, Nina, this is the long 
iron staff" he carried about with him, and that wooden 
rod marks his height.’ 

*Mon Die'll ! he was, then, a giant cet homme la/ 
cried the little Frenchwoman, yawning, however, with 
weariness after all this sight-seeing. 

After that they went home ; and the next day they 


286 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


visited the Winter Palace of the Czar, which impressed 
Anna more than anything she had seen in Russia 
so far, especially the jewel-room and the Empress’s 
drawing-room. 

'For my part. Miss Ernestina, I call it finer than 
anything we have seen, and I ’m sure the houses and 
streets are ten times grander than that slushy, muddy 
Moscow ! ’ she cried. ' Look at the diamonds — worth 
millions, I shouldn’t be surprised ! ’ 

'Anna, you have no taste! Fancy liking this 
modern palace better than the Kremlin, and preferring 
these commonplace streets and this modern town to 
Moscow, with its wonderful churches and quaint old 
houses 1 I have never in my life seen anything so 
wonderful as the Kremlin ! ’ Nina talked as if her 
life had been very long. 

'Oh miss, you forget Westminster Abbey!’ cried 
Anna reproachfully. 

‘We are not comparing the two,’ said Nina im- 
patiently ; ' you might as well compare the sun and a 
firework display.’ 

‘Well, I’d rather have the sun,’ said Anna, ‘if you 
mean Westminster Abbey ; that Kremlin gives me the 
creeps when they tell me all the dreadful things that 
have happened in it.’ 

Finding that Anna was not to be converted, Nina 
left her alone, and walked on with Na^thalia j while 


A TRIP TO PETERSBURG. 


287 


Anna followed with the French gouvernante, whose 
company flattered the English maid. 

Four days passed thus pleasantly away, and then 
the party returned to Moscow, as if it was the most 
natural thing to go to St Petersburg for a few days. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 

O N their return from St Petersburg, as their 
train was nearing Moscow, Nathalia put her 
head out of the train to see if her father was on 
the platform, and drawing it in again, she exclaimed, 
* Oh mamma, something has happened ! ’ 

Poor Madame Poltiskoff, who was very nervous, and 
had the air of always expecting a catastrophe, clasped 
her hands together and murmured, ‘ Olga ! ’ 

'It isn’t Olga, for she is there with papa,’ said 
Nathalia. 

Nina, who found the way the train was crawling 
into Moscow very tiresome, put her head out too, and 
saw Mr Poltiskoff and his daughter standing on the 
platform some way off, and wondered at Nathalia’s 
eyesight, for she could only see that they were stand- 
ing waiting with rather grave faces. ‘ But, then, they 
mostly did have grave faces,’ she reflected. 

Madame Poltiskoff had given a sigh of relief when 
she heard that Olga had been seen ; but she now began 
to ply Nathalia with questions as to why she thought 
something had happened. 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 289 

* Because papa did not wave his hand, and Olga 
wiped away a tear,’ said she. 

‘How on earth could you see that from such a 
distance ? ’ cried Nina in amazement, for Nathalia had 
given the alarm when they were still some way from 
the station. 

‘Oh, I can see very far, and one can see a hat 
waved before one sees the features, and I saw Olga’s 
handkerchief quite plainly,’ explained Nathalia, who 
was in a great state of excitement. 

Nina had been looking, meanwhile, for her father 
or aunt, but could not see either, and was wondering 
what she should do when they arrived and the 
Poltiskoffs, who were apparently in some trouble 
or other, met their relations and wanted to be 
alone. In spite of Olga’s being there, Nina be- 
lieved privately that the trouble had something to 
do with her, and Madame Poltiskoff was of the same 
opinion. 

However, just as the train was slowing down Nina 
saw a tall figure hurrying along the platform, and 
cried with delight, ‘ There is Aunt Pen ! ’ 

No sooner had the train reached the platform than 
Mr Poltiskoff came up to his wife, and helping her to 
descend, said something hastily in Russian. 

Nathalia turned at once to Nina. ‘ It is about my 
uncle ; he is very ill. He is my mamma’s brother, and 

S.M. S 


290 


A RUSSIAN general's FUNERAL. 


she is very fond of him. She must go directly to see 
him, and Olga and I will take you home.’ 

‘ Thank you very much, but I see Aunt Penelope 
coming up the platform,’ replied Nina, who had 
shaken hands with Olga, and now went to meet her 
aunt. Her father, it will be remembered, had for- 
bidden her to speak to Olga, and she was thinking 
how uncomfortable it would be to drive with her and 
not speak to her. It is true, Olga had not said any- 
thing but ‘ How do you do ? ’ to Nina, but that was 
probably because she was anxious to speak to her 
mother, who was in great distress about her brother, 
and hastened away, after a short good-bye to Nina, 
just before Miss Hamilton came up. 

' I am so sorry to hear of the general’s sudden ill- 
ness. How is he ? ’ inquired Miss Hamilton of Olga, 
after she had kissed Nina. 

‘ There is no hope, and mamma must make haste if 
she is to find him conscious,’ said Olga, who, Nina 
thought, looked prettier than ever with tears in her 
eyes. 

‘ Dear, dear, how sad ! But I must not keep you 
here ; you will want to go and see him too,’ exclaimed 
Miss Hamilton. 

Olga shook her head. 'He does not want to see 
me ; it only excites him, and he wants to talk to me,’ 
she said. 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 291 

Miss Hamilton stared at Olga for a moment, not 
understanding ; then she remembered that her brother 
had once said that Madame PoltiskofF’s relations, who 
were all nobles and in the Government service, were 
very angry with Olga, and that they had had to use 
all their influence to keep her out of trouble. * Ah, 
poor man!’ was all she said; and apparently remem- 
bering that her brother had also told her that he did 
not wish Nina to talk to Olga either, she suddenly 
held out her hand, saying, ‘Well, good-bye, dear Olga; 
I must be ofi*,’ and took Nina away as quickly as she 
could, just remembering to say as she went off that 
she sent her sincere condolences to Madame Poltiskoff. 

‘ Dear me, it ’s all very sad I Such a nice girl, too 1 ’ 
observed Miss Hamilton when they were in the 
sledge. 

‘Is his wife so young, then, or do you mean his 
daughter, Aunt Pen ? ’ inquired Nina, whose pleasure 
over her trip was dashed by the sorrow which had 
come upon Madame Poltiskoff*. 

‘ Whose daughter, Nina ? I don’t know what you 
are talking about. I am talking of poor Olga, who is 
evidently — well, never mind. And how did you 
enjoy St Petersburg, or, as they call it here, Peters- 
burg, which seems to me funny, as they are such a 
very reverent people ? ’ observed Miss Hamilton. 

‘Not much — that is to say, I enjoyed the trip 


292 A RUSSIAN general’s funeral. 

awfully, but I did not care for Petersburg nearly as 
much as Moscow ; it is very rich-looking — I mean, 
the streets are so wide and the houses so big. Anna 
admired it more than I did,’ replied Nina. 

' I suppose it looked more English and clean ? * 
suggested Miss Hamilton. 

‘ Yes, ma’am, that it did, and not so old as Moscow ; 
though, to be sure, these green and blue and gold 
churches are pretty enough when you come back to 
them,’ admitted Anna as they passed a church with 
its five green cupolas, all gold-spangled, and its 
painted walls. 

* I am afraid I agree with Anna in liking modern 
towns,’ said Miss Hamilton, who, as has been said, had 
no taste for art, as they drove up with the usual mad, 
circular gallop to their house. 

That evening news came that the general had died 
an hour after his sister’s arrival, and that he had 
recognised her. Miss Hamilton wrote a note of con- 
dolence to Madame PoltiskofF, and imagined that she 
had done all that was required of her, not being per- 
sonally acquainted with the general. 

The next day, however, she received what she pre- 
sumed was an intimation of his death, and remarked 
to her brother, ‘ Am I to acknowledge this ? I don’t 
know what the custom is in Russia at such times. I 
suppose I ought to call soon ? * 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 293 

‘ That is an invitation to the funeral,’ observed her 
brother. 

* To me ? Impossible ! I never saw the poor 
general in my life ! ’ exclaimed Miss Hamilton. 

‘ Yes, you did ; he was at that party that we went 
to the first day you came to Moscow, and he was 
introduced to you too.’ 

‘Well, I don’t remember him; and even if I did, 
I hope I am not to be expected to attend all the 
funerals of all the people I am introduced to ? You 
had better go and represent me.’ 

‘I should certainly go if I were in Moscow; but, 
as you know, business takes me away. I think if 
I were you I should go; it would please Madame 
PoltiskofF, which I am most anxious to do in every 
way that I can, especially just now ; and it would 
interest you, for it is a most impressive service. 
You need only go to the church ; it is not necessary 
for you to follow in the procession,’ remarked Mr 
Hamilton. 

‘ I should think not, indeed ! ’ ejaculated his sister, 
whose face expressed such horror that Nina burst out 
laughing. 

‘ It is not a matter for jest, Nina. — And, by the way, 
is Nina to come too ?’ inquired her aunt. 

‘ Yes, certainly ; it will gratify our friends. And the 
singing is beautiful. There is one chant especially, 


294 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 


called the farewell to the dead, which surpasses any- 
thing I have ever heard for expressing grief ; and as 
he was a well-known officer, the funeral will be un- 
usually grand, and accompanied by all the magnifi- 
cence of the honours of war.’ 

‘ I should like to see a military funeral in Russia,’ 
observed Miss Hamilton, apparently resigned at the 
thought of a spectacle, ‘ and we can just drive to the 
church and back.’ 

Mr Hamilton was obliged the next day to leave 
Moscow for some days on business, so Miss Hamilton 
and Nina went off to the funeral alone. When they 
arrived at the corner of the street in which the church 
was situated they heard music, and at the same 
moment the funeral procession, headed by a military 
band and soldiers, came up the street. Their sledge 
stopped to let it pass, and they saw the huge erection 
which served as a hearse — a kind of open car, carved 
and painted white, with hangings of silver and black 
— and the soldiers of the late general’s regiment 
following ; and when the mourners had gone into the 
church, the two English ladies, who were dressed in 
black, followed. 

The church was full, but, as there are no seats in 
the Russian churches, room was made for them by the 
crowd of peasants standing near the door to pass 
towards the front. 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 295 

‘I suppose we ought to go somewhere near the 
Poltiskoffs ? ’ whispered Miss Hamilton to Nina. 

A man — who would answer to an English verger — 
overheard the name, and supposing that they were 
members of the family, beckoned to them to follow 
him, and elbowing his way through the crowd, led 
them up to the front of the church, where the 
PoltiskofF family and the rest of the late general’s 
relations sat on chairs provided for them. Miss 
Hamilton thought they might have provided chairs 
for their friends; but as she was very strong, she 
resigned herself to standing during the service, which 
she devoutly hoped would not be long, and by long 
she meant more than three-quarters of an hour. 

They were behind the mourners proper, and so the 
coffin was hidden from them ; and Miss Hamilton, tall 
and gaunt, stood reverently and uncomfortably amid 
the reverent congregation, which at intervals pros- 
trated themselves, their heads touching the ground, 
which, it will easily be imagined, meant their coming 
in contact with those around, unless they too made 
the same movements. 

After an hour Nina said to her aunt, ‘Aunt Pen, I 
am so tired ; do you think that man would bring us 
chairs if I asked him ? * 

‘You might try,’ whispered her aunt; and Nina 
did so. 


296 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 


For answer the man nodded, and brought them in 
line with the Poltiskoffs, and face to face with the 
dead general, who lay there in the uncovered coflSn in 
his uniform, with all his orders pinned on a white 
satin cushion at his feet, and a narrow white bandage 
round his brow. 

Neither Miss Hamilton nor Nina had expected this 
sight, and the former drew back instinctively. But 
they had been seen, and Zina PoltiskofF made a sign 
to the man to bring them to two vacant chairs, and 
they sat down for another hour. 

Nina felt inclined to envy the two soldiers who 
stood on guard on each side of the bier with impas- 
sive countenances, and were changed every hour. 
Another hour went by. The sad, monotonous chants 
were very beautiful, in spite of being unaccompanied 
by any instrument, and the voices were well trained ; 
but Miss Hamilton, who was wearied out in spite of 
her boasted strength, was of opinion that it certainly 
was not worth bearing such fatigue for, and only a 
sense of duty and desire to show sympathy to Madame 
Poltiskoff and her family kept Miss Hamilton in her 
place. She glanced at Nina, but the girl did not look 
ill, so there was no excuse for leaving ; and poor Miss 
Hamilton was beginning to wonder whether it was 
the custom in Russia to spend all day over a funeral, 
when there was a move, and a sudden wail burst 


A EUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 297 

forth, which she had no difficulty in recognising as 
the farewell to the dead — a wonderful, thrilling, weird 
chant, the saddest, probably, that has ever been com- 
posed. The mourners were very much affected, and 
presently they all rose and approached the coffin; 
the friends behind, who had been standing or kneeling 
all this time, followed, and Nathalia made a sign to 
Nina to come; so, much against her natural inclina- 
tion, she went forward too. 

‘We take farewell,’ said Nathalia; and Miss 
Hamilton saw that each one bent and kissed the 
dead general on the forehead. 

Nina, though she had not expected this, followed 
Nathalia’s example; but poor Miss Hamilton could 
not get herself to do so, but with a bent head passed 
the coffin, and so back to her seat. What happened 
after that she did not know, for an overwhelming 
desire to get out of the church possessed her; and 
while they were covering the coffin, and the attention 
of all was directed to it, she whispered to Nina that 
she must go. 

‘I’m not sorry to get out; it was very hot and 
very long. Aunt Pen,’ said Nina as they got into their 
sledge, which had been waiting for them all this time. 

‘ Hot and long ! ’ ejaculated Miss Hamilton, as if 
that were a feeble way to talk of the ceremony just 
gone through. ‘ Your father ought not to have let us 


298 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 


go without any warning of what we might expect. If 
I had been a person of weak nerves, there is no saying 
what I might have done — screamed very likely.’ 

‘ Why should any one scream, Aunt Pen, because 
she saw the poor general ? I thought he looked so 
brave and good ; it did not frighten me at all,’ said 
Nina. 

‘No; as I have said before, you seem to have taken 
to Russian ways in a most extraordinary manner. I 
am afraid I am too old to get used to them. I 
cannot express affection for strangers, even if they 
are dead.’ 

‘But, Aunt Penelope, the lament for the dead was 
worth coming to hear, wasn’t it ?’ inquired Nina. 

‘ Nothing would recompense me for such an ordeal 
as I have gone through to-day ! ’ said Miss Hamilton 
grimly, ‘ And I ’m very hungry ; it is an hour past 
lunch-time,’ she wound up. 

Nina said no more. Strange to say, the long 
service had not tired her as much as it had tired her 
aunt ; perhaps because she was glad to be near Madame 
Poltiskoff, and show her gratitude for that lady’s kind- 
nesses by sitting there those three and a half hours. 

When they were at afternoon tea Miss Hamilton 
suddenly observed, ‘ I wonder if those poor Poltiskoffs 
are still at that funeral ? ’ 

But the answer came, not from Nina, but in the 


A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 299 

person of Nathalia, who was announced at that 
moment, and came in swathed in the long veil 
and heavy crape garments of woe which all 
European countries but our own prescribe at such 
times. 

‘Mamma wanted me to come and thank you so 
much for coming this morning. She says she is 
afraid it must have seemed rather long to you, as 
father says your ceremonies are much shorter,’ said 
Nathalia. 

‘It was longer than I expected. I hope your 
mamma is not too fatigued ? ’ replied Miss Hamilton, 
whose passion for truth prevented her from denying 
that she had found the service long ; though she added, 
‘ We were desirous of being with you.’ 

‘Nathalia, if it isn’t a rude question, was your 
uncle killed in a battle ? ’ inquired Nina. 

‘ No. How could he be ? There is no war now. 
He was wounded in the late war, but that is long 
ago. Why do you ask ? ’ 

‘ Because he had a bandage on his forehead,’ said 
Nina hesitatingly, for she did not know if Nathalia 
would like to talk of it, although she seemed to want 
to do so. 

‘ That is the band the priest puts on when one dies,’ 
said Nathalia, who spoke of death fearlessly. ‘It 
shows us that he has “ returned to God,” and we only 


300 A RUSSIAN general’s FUNERAL. 

kiss that band, not his forehead, for he does not 
belong to us any more, but to God.’ 

‘I see,’ said Nina reverently; but she asked no 
more questions, nor did Miss Hamilton, who informed 
her brother when he returned that he must under- 
stand, once for all, that she could not attend any more 
Russian ceremonies. ' I don’t understand them,’ she 
announced decidedly. 

‘And you don’t like them,’ observed her brother. 
‘ Well, I won’t ask you to go to any more ; though, to 
be sure, there will be Zina’s wedding,’ he added. 

‘James,’ said Miss Hamilton solemnly, ‘I shall 
plead a headache ; I am sure the thought has given 
me a nervous one.’ 

‘ Oh, well, I should not start it yet ; the wedding 
won’t be for the next six months at least ; and, by the 
way, this mourning will put off the dinner too,’ he 
remarked. 

‘ That is one thing to be thankful for,’ said Miss 
Hamilton with a sigh. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 

* XT’S my opinion, miss, that one gets into the 
X habits of a foreign country without knowing 
it,’ observed Anna one evening when she was brush- 
ing Nina’s hair. 

This nightly hair-brushing was the occasion of 
many a conversation between mistress and maid, and 
they seemed at that time to forget more than at any 
other time that they were mistress and maid; and 
Nina used to amuse herself by drawing Anna out 
and making her give vent to her opinions. So she 
now said, ‘ Explain yourself, Anna ; what bad habits 
have you been getting into ? ’ 

‘ I never said they were bad habits, nor that it was 
me that got into them,’ replied Anna. 

‘ Well, what do you mean, or, rather, whom are you 
talking about ? Or is it only my hair that you are 
grumbling about, because I will wear it like my 
schoolfellows ? ’ demanded Nina. 

‘No, it’s not that; I have got used to it, and now 
I come to look at it, it ’s more natural to have it flat 
than stuck out; and I don’t know that I was thinking 
of any one in particular, only I seem to have got into 


302 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


the way of Russian servants, being a kind of slave,* 
observed Anna. 

‘ What did you say, Anna — that you were a slave ? * 
cried Nina, whom this statement so surprised that she 
wrenched her hair out of Anna’s hands to turn and 
look at the girl. 

‘ Well, I don’t mean anything impolite. Miss Ernes- 
tina ; I know I let my tongue run away with me, and 
it ’s my own doing, of course,’ replied Anna. 

‘ I don’t think slaves talk to their owners as you 
have just been talking; but never mind that, just tell 
me straight out what you mean. Who has been treat- 
ing you like a slave ? It must be I, for you don’t do 
anything for anybody but me, and I ’m sure you have 
not much to do for me. I sometimes wonder what 
you do with yourself all day, not being able to talk 
to the other servants,’ remarked Nina. 

‘That’s just what I meant; it is dull if a body 
can’t go out for a whole day and feel free,’ said Anna 
eagerly. 

‘ Oh,’ said Nina dryly, ‘ I see what you mean ; but 
it would have been just as easy to say that you 
wanted a day off to go out with John Thomas, which 
is the truth, as to say that you were a slave, which is 
not the truth.’ 

‘His name is not John Thomas, Miss Ernestina; 
it’s a much prettier name than that — it’s Claude,’ 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


303 


answered Anna, without attempting to defend herself 
from the charge of untruthfulness. 

‘What a grand name for a footman!’ observed 
Nina. 

‘ He ’s not what you might call a footman ; he ’s a 
superior servant,’ said Anna. 

‘Well, anyhow, I suppose it’s with Claude that you 
want to go out. What day do you want to go ? I ’ll 
ask Aunt Penelope for you, if you like.’ 

‘If it’s quite convenient, I’d like to go next 
Wednesday; but, of course, I wouldn’t go if you 
wanted me,’ said Anna. 

‘ And if I did say I wanted you, you would say you 
were a slave. No, thank you, I will do without my 
slave on Wednesday. Where are you going ? To see 
the Kremlin again ? If so, mind you don’t touch the 
Czar’s carpet,’ Nina observed. 

‘My, miss, do you mean to say they report even 
that? Well, there’s no calling your soul your own 
in this country ; every little thing you do is carried 
all over the town. It ’s enough to make one afraid to 
stir out of the house.’ 

‘ Then perhaps you had better give up Wednesday ? ’ 
suggested Nina wickedly. 

‘ I shall have a gentleman to take care of me. I 
beg your pardon, miss ; it ’s only a way we have of 
talking in our class,’ said Anna. 


804 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


‘ Well, mind you don’t kick your shoes off at him 
any more, or I don’t think he ’ll take you out again,’ 
said Nina. 

But this was too much for Anna, and her face, as 
Nina saw it in the looking-glass, was so ludicrous in 
her dismay that Nina could not help laughing. 

‘It’s awful!’ murmured Anna; ‘you aren’t even 
let alone in a house. I don’t wonder the Russians are 
all so nervous, the women especially. There ’s Madame 
Poltiskoff; they say she shakes at a knock at the 
door, and she won’t hardly let them speak for fear 
they should say something that ’ll be repeated.’ 

‘ I don’t wonder, when she has a gouvernante 
like ma’m’selle, who repeats everything to you,’ 
retorted Nina, whom Anna’s gossip with ma’m’selle 
annoyed. 

‘She doesn’t repeat anything, because there isn’t 
anything to repeat. But, miss, I was going to ask 
you, what would you call my profession ? ’ 

‘Your what, Anna?’ inquired Nina, who thought 
Anna had got hold of the wrong word. 

But Anna repeated, ‘ My profession in life. What 
would you call me, miss ? ’ 

‘ My maid — at least, that is what I always imagined 
you were ; but now that you call yourself my slave, I 
really don’t know what to call you,’ replied Nina, 
laughing at Anna and her wrinkled brows. 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


805 


‘ I didn't really mean that about being a slave, Miss 
Ernestina. What I really am is your gouvernante' 

‘ Are you ? Then I had better tell papa that it is 
not necessary for me to go to the Gymnase any more, 
as you will give me lessons,’ remarked Nina. 

‘You’re making fun of me. Miss Nina, as you 
always do, for you know I did not mean that; a 
gouvernante is a superior maid, like ma’m’selle.’ 

‘Well, Anna, when you are as superior as dear old 
Nana, and as well-mannered, I will call you my 
gouvernante' declared Nina. 

‘ That will be too late ’ began Anna. 

‘ Oh, for shame, Anna ! Do you mean to say that 
you are not going to become well-mannered for a 
long time ? ’ Nina asked, teasing her. 

‘ No, miss, I am trying now ; but I wanted it put 
on my passport ; it looks better, and if I am to go out 

with that young man ’ explained Anna, but was 

stopped by a hearty peal of laughter from Nina. 

The latter, however, tried to look grave as she 
replied, ‘ If you like, you can cross out “ maid and 
put down gouvernante on the passport; I don’t 
suppose papa will mind. But you will be marched 
straight off to prison for falsifying your pass- 
port.’ 

‘I’ll leave it alone; after all, perhaps they won’t 

look at my papers, as I’m with a safe person like 

S.M. T 


306 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


Claude/ said Anna, who did not see the reflection she 
cast upon Nina as being an unsafe person. 

Nina did not take any notice of the slip ; but she 
did not like it, and the rest of the hair-dressing went 
on in silence, Anna no doubt thinking of the day’s 
outing she was going to have — her first holiday since 
she left England — and Nina thinking of her ‘ unsafe- 
ness.’ However, true to her promise, she asked her 
aunt, of whom Anna stood somewhat in awe, for the 
day’s holiday, which Miss Hamilton readily gave. 

‘ As long as you are sure that this new friend of 
Anna’s is safe ? ’ she remarked a little anxiously. 

‘ Oh dear, yes ! A great deal safer than I am, as 
Anna told me last night,’ said Nina a little bitterly. 

‘Anna takes great liberties; we have spoilt her, 
and you ought to keep her in order now, Nina. She 
is not a child any more, nor are you,’ said her aunt. 

‘ She didn’t mean it rudely, and she is better than 
she was,’ said Nina. 

And so Anna, got up in her long fur cloak, with 
her best Sunday-dress underneath, and her best hat 
on, in spite of Nina’s warnings that it would get 
ruined by the fall of snow from the houses, set off 
with the young English valet, whom Miss Hamilton 
insisted upon interviewing before they started, and 
who impressed her very favourably. 

‘ A most valuable servant, I should think ; I only 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 807 

wish we had him, he looks so trustworthy/ she 
said. 

‘We’re going to take a sledge and drive right out 
into the country to see a famous monastery,’ he 
announced when he got to the hall-door. 

‘ That ’ll be something my young lady hasn’t seen,’ 
said Anna, and she chatted away very happily, telling, 
in the course of her conversation, all about her desire 
to have her passport altered. ‘ But there, you daren’t 
breathe here for fear they ’ll put you into prison ; I 
never saw such a silly set, afraid of nothing!’ she 
exclaimed. 

‘ It ’s not nothing,’ said her companion gravely, ‘ as 
you’ll find out before long; and if you care about 
your young lady, don’t you go talking to any one you 
don’t know in the street.’ 

‘ We never do. What can you be thinking of ? If 
it ’s that young gentleman who freed us from some 
beggars, he was properly introduced, and I wonder 
you don’t know that, as you know almost everything 
about everybody. One would think folk hadn’t 
anything to do but talk tittle-tattle about their 
neighbours in Moscow; it’s worse than a village, 
it is indeed. I’m afraid to open my mouth here!’ 
cried Anna. 

‘ I shouldn’t have thought that,’ he remarked slyly ; 
‘ but as far as that goes, you ’re safe enough here — no 


308 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


one takes any notice of what I say, nor of you, don’t 
you flatter yourself ! ’ 

‘ That ’s where you ’re wrong ! ’ cried Anna, and she 
told him with some importance of how her doings 
had been repeated. ‘Even to my kicking off* my 
shoes ! ’ 

‘Your young lady saw that herself; she was look- 
ing over the top of the stairs,’ explained Claude. 

‘ Oh ! ’ ejaculated Anna, and seemed to be struggling 
for a time between indignation at Nina’s trick and 
relief at being able ‘ to open her mouth.’ ‘ Then why 
did they repeat to you that we spoke to a young 
gentleman ? ’ she suddenly inquired. 

‘Well now, if I thought you could keep a quiet 
tongue in your head, I ’d tell you something,’ said her 
companion. 

Anna naturally promised. 

‘They mostly talk French at our place, and the 
prince knows I understand it, so I suppose he trusts 
me ; and so he may, for what I am going to repeat 
he ’d tell you himself if he thought it would do any 
good,’ said the young man. 

‘ Is your master a prince ? ’ asked Anna with awe. 

‘Yes; they don’t use their titles in Russia. But 
he ’s a prince, and of a very high family and friendly 
with the Czar; and he says that Mr Hamilton had 
better by far take his daughter back to England, for, 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 309 

if not, she will be mixed up in this dreadful affair 
they 're planning in Moscow.’ 

‘Oh my, Claude! whatever dreadful affair? You 
don’t know my young lady ; she wouldn’t hurt a fly, 
let alone go making a revolution!’ cried Anna, 
horrifled. 

‘ It ’s worse than a revolution ; it ’s bombs they ’re 
making,’ said Claude. 

‘Miss Ernestina making bombs! However dare 
you say such a thing ? ’ cried Anna. ‘ You ’ll have to 
talk differently to that of my young lady if you wish 
me to come out with you ! ’ 

‘Very well, I’ll say no more; I only meant it for 
her good and yours. Being English myself, of course 
I feel interested in English people,’ said he. 

Here, as may be imagined, Anna turned round and 
begged her companion to continue. ‘You may trust 
me; when it matters, I can hold my tongue right 
enough.’ 

‘ Then don’t take me up wrong again. I never said 
Miss Hamilton made bombs.’ 

‘ I should think not ! ’ put in the irrepressible Anna. 

But Claude evidently wanted to tell her this story, 
and, as a matter of fact, had been told to do so by 
his master the prince, who explained that he did 
not dare to tell Mr Hamilton, not knowing him well 
enough, besides not being sure that it would not be 


310 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


wiser to tell the daughter through her maid. So the 
young man continued, as the sledge sped through the 
snow-covered country roads, ‘ A certain young gentle- 
man and a certain young lady whom we know belong 
to a secret society.’ 

‘ Oh, I know whom you mean ’ began Anna. 

‘ Sh, sh 1 it ’s best to mention no names. And this 
society, which is supposed to meet to discuss literature, 
is also engaged in making plans for a revolution. 
They go about the country telling the peasants to 
turn against their masters because they are ground 
down and haven’t enough to eat.’ 

‘ Well, I don’t know that I don’t approve of that,’ 
said Anna, ' if they really haven’t enough to eat.’ 

‘ They won’t get what they want by burning their 
masters’ houses, as they have done lately. The 
revolutionaries are trying to make better laws for 
them — but that’s neither here nor there. Part of 
this society want only peaceful means, the young lady 
and gentleman we spoke of among them ; but the 
others want bombs, and they are having them made ; 
and the question is, who is to throw them ? ’ 

‘Not my young lady?’ cried Anna in horror. 
‘ Don’t say she belongs to them ! ’ 

‘No, not yet, and perhaps she would not if she 
knew what they were really up to ; but she has given 
them money, and they hope to get her to join them, 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


311 


and it would be just like their ways if they chose her 
to throw their infernal machine ! ’ 

‘ Claude, this dl he my last outing with you or any 
one else in Moscow, for back we go to England sooner 
than have Miss Ernestina drawn into such shocking 
societies. I ’ll tell Mr Hamilton myself.’ 

‘ That ’s just what I don’t want you to do ! ’ said 
Claude. 

‘ Then what ’s the good of telling me ? And if 
you think I’m going to stand by and see my Miss 
Ernestina, whom I ’ve known from a baby and love 
like my own sister, run into such danger, you’re 
wrong ! ’ cried Anna, nearly crying. 

‘ Then you do what I tell you, or else I shall be sorry 
I told you anything about it. You tell Miss Hamil- 
ton — your young lady, I mean — what I have told you 
about that secret society, and that the prince knows 
all about it, which means that the Government does.’ 

‘ Then why don’t they put them all into prison ? ’ 
inquired Anna. 

‘Because they want to wait till the last minute 
and catch them altogether ; and another thing is, there 
are one or two the authorities don’t want to take if 
they can be persuaded to go away from Moscow — 
they’ve got relations in high places. Oh, there’s 
wheels within wheels in politics, and women ought 
not to mix up with them ; they only get into trouble.’ 


312 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


Anna was silent, for once in her life, for at least 
five minutes, and her companion, who wished her to 
be impressed, let her alone, and then said, ‘ There are 
the cupolas of the monastery,^ and he said an unpro- 
nounceable name. 

But Anna only sighed heavily. ‘ I don’t feel as if 
I cared to look at anything. I only wish we were at 
home again. To think of my dear young lady in such 
danger ! ’ 

‘ She ’s in no danger if she goes no further, and the 
only thing they are likely to do is to banish her,’ said 
Claude. 

‘And you call that no danger?’ almost screamed 
Anna, who looked as though she would get out of 
the sledge and run back home. ‘Well, there’s one 
thing, if she goes to Siberia I go too.’ 

‘Who’s talking of Siberia? They’d only banish 
her from Russia, and as it isn’t her country, she 
won’t mind. She ’d go home to England, and it is the 
best thing she could do.’ 

They now got out of the sledge, and though Anna 
did not pay much attention to the explanations which 
were given of what she was seeing, she declared that 
it was all very interesting, but that she was rather 
cold, and thought that they had better be getting 
home. 

So, after giving her a good dinner, which, in spite 


A FRIENDLY WARNING. 


313 


o£ her anxiety, Anna did manage to enjoy, her com- 
panion took her home, and she surprised Nina by 
arriving early in the afternoon. Anna’s explanation 
was so lengthy and its results so important that it 
must wait for another chapter. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


MATOSCHIK. 

‘ TT AVE you quarrelled with John Thomas, 
X X Anna?’ inquired Nina when the maid 
entered her room, having hastily taken off her furs 
and snow-boots. 

‘ No, miss. Why should you think that ? We got 
on splendidly. I came home to speak to you be- 
cause he said something — that is, there is something 
I should like to tell you, if you ’ll take it without 
being angry with me,’ said Anna, who evidently had 
some difficulty in expressing herself. 

Nina looked at Anna again, and seeing, on closer 
inspection, that she seemed excited, and that her eyes 
shone so that she almost looked pretty, Nina came to 
the conclusion that she had had a proposal, and 
wished to break to her that she must leave her. 

‘ I don’t mind as long as you give me some cake/ 
said Nina jestingly, 

‘ Cake, miss ! Whatever good will that do ? Not 
but what I ’ll go and fetch some if you really want it/ 
said the astonished Anna. 

‘It’s your wedding-cake I am talking about/ 
explained Nina. 


MATOSCHIK. 


315 


‘ Then that s more than we were talking about this 
morning ; it ’s been death we 've been thinking about. 
Oh miss, I’ve had a dreadful time, and I’m right 
glad to get back to you ! ’ Anna exclaimed. 

‘So I should think. What a lively companion 
John Thomas must be! He doesn’t look such a 
melancholy man,’ observed Nina. 

‘No, miss, he isn’t; and I enjoyed being out very 
much,’ began Anna. 

‘Now, Anna, just tell me what you mean. First 
you say you had a dreadful time, and then you say 
that you enjoyed yourself very much; one or the 
other must be false,’ said Nina very decidedly. 

‘It’s both true. If I thought only of myself, I 
should have enjoyed myself ; but when I thought of 

you and of the dreadful danger you are in ’ said 

Anna, and then stopped. Nina had turned a little 
pale. 

But after the first fright, Nina, holding her head 
high, said coldly, ‘ I am much obliged to you, Anna, 
for troubling yourself about my private affairs, and 
to your friend too, but I am in no danger at all, 
and I should advise you next time you go out to 
think about your own concerns ; ’ and so saying, Nina, 
who decided that Anna had as usual been listening to 
some gossip, and had come home full of it and wanted 
to make a sensation, got up to leave the room. 


316 


MATOSCHIK. 


‘ Miss Ernestina, listen to me ! ’ said Anna, stopping 
her way, and looking as if she were going to cry. 
‘They’re making bombs here in Moscow; Claude 
knows it, and he told me to warn you, because you ’re 
going to be given one.’ 

But she got no further, for this time Nina was 
really frightened. ‘ Bombs ’ was not a word one cared 
to hear in Moscow, and, as Anna had expressed it, it 
sounded as if a bomb was going to be thrown at 
her, and the thought flashed across Nina’s mind that 
it might be revenge on the part of the revolutionaries 
because she would not be made a cat’s-paw of. So 
she sat down again, and said as calmly as she could, 
‘ Tell me all about it, Anna.’ 

So, with much correction of herself, Anna told the 
whole story, and Nina listened and questioned and 
cross-questioned till she had pretty well got at the 
truth, with a few exaggerations. 

She was still sitting there, with her head resting 
on her hand, when Miss Hamilton came in, and seizing 
Nina by the hand, said, ‘ Come and sit in the same 
room with me; I can’t bear to have you out of my 
sight ! ’ 

‘ What is it now. Aunt Penelope ? ’ asked Nina, who 
began to think she was to have no peace at all with 
all these alarms. 

‘ My dear, those wretched revolutionaries have just 


MATOSCHIK. 


817 


killed a policeman at the end of the street, and when 
Olga told me — she has been here, but I did not send 
for you — she said that it was a necessary act ! The 
poor girl must be losing all conscience ! ' cried Miss 
Hamilton. 

‘ Why was it necessary ? ’ demanded Nina. 

But Miss Hamilton looked shocked. ‘Of course 
it was not necessary, Nina, and I am surprised at 
your looking at it like that instead of being horri- 
fied I’ 

‘I only meant to ask why Olga had said it was 
necessary,* observed Nina. 

‘ Because he was what she calls a spy ; that is, he 
was put there to watch who went into a certain house, 
which no doubt the Government had a right to know. 
By the way, she wanted to see you, Nina ; but your 
father’s orders were so strict that I told her I would 
give you her message,’ replied Miss Hamilton. 

‘ What was her message ? ’ inquired Nina. 

‘ I don’t know ; she would not give it to me. She 
said she would wait till fate brought you together. 
She always talks in that way,’ observed her aunt. 

Nina had followed her aunt into the sitting-room, and 
the two sat and worked very quietly ; in fact, so quiet 
was Nina that Miss Hamilton thought to herself how 
much steadier she was getting. But presently Mr 
Hamilton came in, and after a few words to the 


318 


MATOSCHIK. 


two, went off to his study, and Nina got up and 
followed him. 

‘Papa,’ she said, ‘I am afraid you will be very 
angry, but you remember that I gave Olga some 
money to help with her plans for the poor, and I 
find she has given it to her secret society, and they 
are making bombs with it.’ 

Mr Hamilton, as has been said, was a very self- 
controlled man, and not given to showing his feelings. 
After the first slight start, he sat there quite calm to 
all appearance, and struck a match. ‘How do you 
know?’ was all he said, and Nina did not see the 
bead of perspiration that stood on his upper lip, and 
was the only outward sign of his agitation. 

‘Prince Radzovka’s valet told Anna,’ said Nina, 
who managed to tell the story so simply and directly 
that Mr Hamilton knew more in two minutes than 
Nina had done in half-an-hour from Anna. 

Mr Hamilton smoked silently on till Nina had 
finished; then he said, ‘Well, never mind. I am 
quite able to take care of you, and they won’t touch 
you. Don’t be afraid of that.’ 

‘ But, papa ’ said Nina doubtfully. 

‘But what? You doubt my power? So should 
I if I let you out of my sight, but I don’t mean 
to do so till that danger is past,’ he replied with 
decision. 


MATOSCHIK. 


819 


‘But, papa, I thought you had to go away again 
from Moscow ? ’ said Nina. 

‘ So I have, but you are coming too; and as we start 
to-night, you had better go and get your things to- 
gether, and I will go and tell your aunt.' 

Without a word Nina did as she was told, and Mr 
Hamilton went to his sister. ‘ Penelope, I am going 
to Matoschik to-night, and I will take Nina with 
me. Will you come, or do you prefer to stay here ? ' 
he asked. 

‘ I will come, of course. I shall be only too glad to 
be out of Moscow for the present,’ she replied, and she 
made no remark upon her brother’s sudden change of 
plans. 

‘ I am glad of that ; a change of air will do us all 
good, especially Nina,’ said Mr Hamilton significantly. 

‘ I think so too. Olga called here to see Nina, but I 
did not let her.’ 

‘ That was right. Get your things packed as soon 
as possible,’ said her brother as he left the room. 

‘Anna, will you please pack our things? We are 
all going to Matoschik to-night,’ said Nina to the 
maid. 

‘ Wherever ’s that, miss, and what kind of things 
shall you want ? ’ asked Anna. 

‘ It is papa’s country property, about twenty miles 
from anywhere — I mean any town, and about four 


320 


MATOSCHIK. 


from the station, and we shall not see any one, so 
you need not take any party-dresses, but plenty of 
warm ones, as I expect it will be colder in the country 
than in the town,’ explained Nina. 

‘Very good. Miss Ernestina,’ said Anna; and she, 
too, made no comment on this sudden news, though 
she thought to herself that she knew what it meant. 

‘ And so will Claude when he hears.’ 

Mr Hamilton in the meanwhile was telephoning to 
the police, and in a short time a very superior police- 
officer came and demanded their passports. 

‘ I have telephoned to the police to tell them we are 
going to leave Moscow to-night, and this gentleman 
has been good enough to come and give us official 
leave and see about our passports.’ 

‘ I don’t see what the police have to do with me,* 
said Miss Hamilton stiffly. 

She did not know that the officer understood 
English; but he did, and answered with a grave 
smile, ‘We have to do with everybody. It is 
against the law for any one to leave his residence 
without telling the police.’ 

‘ But not English people ? How do business people 
manage ? ’ inquired Miss Hamilton. ‘ It must be most 
inconvenient.* 

‘Not at all. If they are like your brother, they 
simply send to us, and viQ arrange the matter for 


MATOSCHIK. 


821 


them, and give them a kind of introduction to the 
next place they go to by saying where they came 
from last. It is quite simple, and so much safer,’ he 
said, with such a satisfied smile that Miss Hamilton 
was nettled into saying, ‘I should not have said you 
managed to make things very safe in this country.* 

The oflficer looked very grave, and her brother 
interposed. * My sister has reason to feel annoyed at 
the difliculty we foreigners have in keeping safe in 
Moscow,’ he said with meaning and very determinedly. 

* I am sorry to hear that. We all know and respect 
you, sir, and I can assure you that we have orders to 
protect you and yours, and mean to do so as long as 
it is necessary and possible, and I hope the latter will 
be always.’ 

Mr Hamilton held out his hand as he said, ‘ Thank 
you,’ and the officer, having finished his duty, re- 
tired. 

‘ I must say, though I don’t much like the idea of 
being looked after by the police and giving them 
notice of one’s movements like a ticket-of-leave 
person, that they really are a very polite and kindly 
set of men in Russia,’ remarked Miss Hamilton. 

Mr Hamilton smiled grimly. ‘Like most people, 
they have two sides, and I hope and trust we shall 
never see the other one,’ he said. 

Then the sledges were called, and the party, 

S.M. U 


822 


MATOSCHIK. 


servants and all, set off for Matoschik. It was late 
when they got there ; but the moon was shining, and 
Nina saw that the house was surrounded by a thick 
wood, and that it was large and rambling. 

The caretaker, who had received a telegram a few 
hours before, was at the door to greet them, bowing 
nearly to the ground, and saying all sorts of affec- 
tionate greetings and pretty things in Russian about 
Nina ; and they found huge fires in the rooms. The 
servants soon had some kind of repast ready, and 
after it Miss Hamilton sat down opposite her brother 
to enjoy the log-fire. Mr Hamilton’s chair faced the 
window, while his sister’s was away from it, and 
Nina sat in the middle. 

Nina, who noticed that her father looked steadily 
out of the window, turned that way at last, and 
exclaimed, ‘ Why, papa, there are no shutters to the 
windows ! ’ 

‘ I wish you would go to bed, and you too, Pene- 
lope; you must be tired,’ said Mr Hamilton, quite 
irritably for him. 

* I am not in the least tired, James ; but if you 
want to be alone, of course I will go,’ she replied. 

* Yes, yes, and go at once !’ he exclaimed energetically. 

Miss Hamilton stared at her brother in amazement ; 

she began to think he must be overworking himself, 
his manner was so odd. But Nina, who was devoted 


MATOSCHIK. 323 

to her father, saw that for some reason he wanted to 
be alone, and got up and went to say good-night ; but 
even she was rather surprised when, as she was 
putting her arms round his neck, he almost pushed 
her off and towards the door. 

‘Come,’ he said when they were in the passage, 
‘ I will accompany you to your rooms ; they are not 
sumptuously furnished, but they are quite com- 
fortable, and they open into each other, and I am 
alongside, so you need not be afraid.’ 

‘ What on earth should I be afraid of, James ? One 
would think I was a coward, and Nina too. Do you 
think we have never slept in a country-house before ? ’ 
inquired Miss Hamilton. 

‘I suppose you have never been in a Russian 
country-house, and I was only doing the honours,’ 
said Mr Hamilton, laughing. He seemed to have 
quite recovered his good spirits, and stopped chatting 
with them for some time, till his sister asked him 
why he had sent them to bed and then kept them 
out of it. She had hardly said the words, when he 
suddenly, without any warning, blew out the lamp 
which he was carrying, and which was all they had 
to light them for the moment. 

‘ Well, really, James, what are you dreaming about 
this evening? Pray light that lamp again!’ cried 
Miss Hamilton. 


324 


MATOSCHIK. 


‘What was the matter, papa? Was the lamp 
smoking ? * inquired Nina. 

‘It was not giving a very good light. I suppose 
you could not undress in the dark ? ' he replied. 

‘No; I certainly could not,’ said Miss Hamilton 
severely, who was not at all pleased with her brother 
to-night. 

‘Yes, we can, Aunt Pen, with the light of the fire,* 
said Nina. 

‘Oh, well, it does not matter; I will draw the 
curtains,’ observed her father in a different tone, and 
he drew the curtains in both rooms. 

‘Do you know, Nina, I think your father’s busi- 
ness is worrying him more than he will allow. I 
know he has had to come here because the overseer 
of his woods cheated him so badly and ill-treated the 
peasants so much that he had to dismiss him, and he 
has been very troublesome since,’ said Miss Hamilton. 

‘ Papa wouldn’t worry about that ; he has too many 
hundred employes not to be used to some of them 
behaving badly, and I should think he could manage 
a Russian peasant,’ said Nina. 

At this moment her father’s voice was heard in 
the passage saying, ‘ Get into bed, will you ? What 
on earth are you stopping up talking nonsense 
for?’ 

‘ He certainly is not himself ! ’ ejaculated Miss 


MATOSCHIK. 


325 


Hamilton, who would have been offended at his 
peremptory remarks if she had not thought that 
her brother was worried and could not help being 
irritable. 

‘ Go to bed, I tell you, Nina ; go to bed at once, and 
make your aunt go too ! And, by the way, it is not 
cold, so you may as well put out your fires ! ’ shouted 
her father. 

‘ I am going to bed, James, and I should advise you 
to do so too; you are not yourself to-night, or I 
should not allow you to speak to me like that,’ said 
Miss Hamilton in dignified tones. — *And what he 
means by wanting to economise the wood I can’t 
imagine, seeing that there are hundreds of trees all 
round. The fact is, I was quite right ; he is worried, 
and has got it into his head that he is going to be 
ruined — ^yes, that’s it — and he has begun to save 
money. Of course, that explains it ! ’ 

‘ Nina, I order you, at least, to go to bed and not 
speak again ! ’ cried her father from the distance. 

Miss Hamilton relapsed into indignant silence. 
Even if her brother did imagine he was going to be 
ruined — a thing which was improbable — she was 
very rich, and he could share her wealth, and so 
she would have told him if * he had been himself,’ as 
she put it. 

As it was, she prepared to go to bed in the firm 


326 


MATOSCHIK. 


belief that she understood his odd behaviour, which 
was more than Nina did, who thought there was 
some reason for it which they did not know. 

The next chapter will show which of them was 
right. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 

W HEN her father had shouted his last com- 
mand, Nina crept quietly to the fire, raked 
apart the logs, dashed out the last flames, and then 
got into bed. But she heard Miss Hamilton stalk- 
ing about her room with a step which betokened 
great displeasure, and then two apparently heavy 
logs were thrown on the fire, in mute protest against 
her brother’s^ ridiculous suggestion of economising. 
From under the door Nina saw the reflection of 
the bright light that sprang up, and almost im- 
mediately a shot rang out, a sound of crashing glass, 
and a cry from her aunt. 

In a moment Nina had sprung out of bed and was 
in her aunt's room. ‘ Oh Aunt Pen, are you hurt ? 
Who shot at you ? ' she cried. 

‘ I am not hurt at all, which is a miracle ; and as for 
who shot me, or rather tried to shoot me, we will not 
bother about that; it was probably an accident — at 
least, we will hope so,’ announced Miss Hamilton. 

While she was speaking they heard Mr Hamilton’s 
voice outside the house saying something in Russian 
in raised tones, then hurried footsteps on the paved 


828 AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 

path round the house, and presently Mr Hamilton 
called out, ‘ Nina ! Penelope ! Are you all right ? ’ 

‘ I ’m all right, papa ! ' cried Nina, going to the 
window, in which there was a small round hole. 

‘ And you, Penelope ? Can’t you answer me ? ’ he 
cried irritably. 

‘ I am alive, James,’ said Miss Hamilton coldly. 

* Alive ? Good heavens ! Are you wounded ? Did 
that shot hit you ? ’ 

‘No, it did not — by a miracle; but a second one 
might,’ she announced. 

‘There won’t be a second, so go to bed,’ said her 
brother. 

‘ I don’t feel too sure about that ; at any rate, I do 
not mean to go to bed to-night. But I strongly advise 
you to go to bed yourself, James, before anything 
worse happens,’ said Miss Hamilton. 

‘Nothing can happen; my peasants are all devoted 
to us, and no one but myself has firearms,’ called out 
her brother, who remained in the garden — why, Nina 
could not imagine. 

‘ I should be much obliged if you would give me 
your firearms for to-night; they will be safer with 
me,’ said Miss Hamilton. 

‘Don’t be absurd, Penelope. Do you suppose I 
can’t protect you better than you can yourself?’ 
shouted her brother. ‘ Go to bed ! ’ 


AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 329 

‘Yes, let’s go to bed, Aunt Penelope; papa wants 
us to,’ urged Nina. 

‘If you think I am going to bed to be made a 
target of by your father, who, to say the least of it, 
seems to have taken to shooting wildly, you are 
mistaken,’ said her aunt solemnly. 

‘ But it was a mistake ; papa did not know it was 
your window, or else his revolver went off by mis- 
take,’ said Nina. 

‘ It ’s a kind of mistake I don’t care for, and to 
prevent any danger I mean to sit up,’ declared Miss 
Hamilton. 

‘But you will be a better target that way than 
in bed,’ suggested Nina. 

‘ Not at all ; I mean to sit in this chair, which is out 
of the range of your father’s gun,’ said Miss Hamilton. 

‘ One would think papa had done it on purpose ! ’ 
cried Nina indignantly. 

Miss Hamilton made no answer, and Nina stood 
there feeling very uncomfortable as she watched her 
aunt, in her flowered and wadded dressing-gown, 
settle herself as comfortably as she could in an arm- 
chair in a recess sheltered from the window. 

At this moment there came a knock at the bed- 
room door, and Mr Hamilton’s voice was heard saying, 
‘ Let me in, Pen ; I want to see for myself that you 
are not hurt.’ 


330 AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 

‘Go to bed, James; you will be calmer in the 
morning, and we will talk of this then,’ replied his 
sister. 

‘ Calm ? What do you mean ? I am not in the 
least frightened; I am only afraid for your nerves. 
— Here, Nina, open the door ! ’ cried Mr Hamilton. 

In spite of protests from her aunt, Nina went to 
the door and opened it to her father, who stood there, 
his revolver in his hand. 

‘ James, give me that revolver at once ; I will not 
sit here to be shot at, even if I do put more logs on 
the fire ! ’ 

‘Ah, that was what did for you; the rascal saw 
your shadow reflected on the curtain. I told you 
to go to bed in the dark, but you seem to have taken 
some crank into your head to-night, and there is no 
doing anything with you.’ 

‘Papa, didn’t you fire that shot, then?’ inquired 
Nina, as an idea struck her. 

‘ I ? Of course not. Do you imagine I can’t shoot 
straighter than that? Or do you suppose I have 
taken it into my head to murder you all ? — Upon 
my word, I verily believe, absurd though it sounds, 
that that is what you did think, Penelope. Well, 
really, at your age, I think you might have more 
sense ! ’ cried Mr Hamilton. 

‘ You said you were the only person with firearms. 


AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 331 

SO who could it have been ? ’ demanded Miss Hamilton, 
who was beginning to think she was mistaken. 

‘ I suppose I had better tell you the whole story ; 
it will be less alarming than having you imagine 
that you have a lunatic for a brother,’ said Mr 
Hamilton; and then went on: ‘It was my overseer. 
He came to the dining-room window this evening 
while we were sitting there, and made threatening 
gestures, which was the reason I wanted you to go 
to bed quietly; and then, finding I took no notice, 
he, guided by your shadow, shot at you. But he is 
now safe under lock and key and without arms ; so, 
being satisfied that I did not try to kill you, perhaps 
you will go to bed,’ said her brother dryly. 

Miss Hamilton sighed. ‘ All this would have been 
avoided if you had treated us like rational beings 
and told us the truth.’ 

‘I only wished to save you a fright; it is not 
pleasant to know that a man is pointing a revolver 
at you from the other side of the window,’ said 
Mr Hamilton ; ‘ and I never thought he would shoot 
at you before I could get at him.’ 

‘ Well, it is all over now, and I shall go to bed,’ an- 
nounced Miss Hamilton, who looked quite worn out. 

The next morning dawned so bright and warm that 
Nina wished she had brought some spring things; 
it was quite like a spring day. 


332 AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 

‘ If you like I will drive you over to some friends of 
mine and my dear wife’s, who will be very pleased to 
see Nina,’ said Mr Hamilton at breakfast. 

^ Is it very far, papa ? ’ asked Nina. 

‘ About twenty miles, so we must start soon,’ replied 
her father. 

‘ Twenty miles ! How long will that take ? ’ inquired 
Miss Hamilton. 

‘In our sledge over the snow, not so long as at 
home,’ said her brother. 

‘ Isn’t it nearly melted and lumpy as in Moscow ? * 
asked Nina, who had found driving about Moscow 
in the thaw very ‘jolting.’ 

‘ No ; the snow takes longer to melt on the plain, 
and we shall skim along in fine style with our six 
horses,’ he explained. 

And so it proved, for the horses seemed to fly 
through the air, and the sun shone so brightly that 
Nina had only one regret, and that was that she 
had no grand frock, though both her father and aunt 
assured her that her pretty tailor-made coat and skirt 
and Paris blouse were just what was needed for a 
visit in the country. 

When they reached the little village which sur- 
rounded the country-house of Mr Hamilton’s friends, 
they heard music and singing. ‘ There must be some 
feast,’ he remarked. ‘Yes; there is the procession. — 


AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 833 

Look, Nina, those are Russian peasants’ dresses — those 
quaint, old-fashioned silks, and those tunics that the 
men wear.’ 

Nina looked, and saw that the women — all very 
stout, either because they were wadded or because 
the Russian peasant- woman is generally very stout — 
wore handsome silks of an ancient date, and the men 
different sorts of tunics, which are called in other 
lands ‘ Russian coats.’ 

Suddenly Miss Hamilton exclaimed, ‘James, who 
are those women on white ponies ? ’ 

‘I believe those are some of the ladies we are 
going to see. They are on mules, not ponies, and 
I suppose they have come out to join the procession. 
We had better wait for them.’ 

But they had been seen, and the company, as well 
as some gentlemen on horseback, came up to them, 
and made them very welcome. 

‘ You have brought your luggage, of course ? ’ said 
their hostess. 

‘ No, indeed. I have business at my place ; we have 
only come to pay you a short call.’ 

‘That is a disappointment. But you must be 
starved ; lunch will be ready as soon as we get home, 
and if you will drive on, we will make our devotions 
and join you in five minutes,’ they told them. 

Miss Hamilton watched with interest the peasants 


334 AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 

with their grave, expressionless faces, except for the 
light in their melancholy eyes — melancholy because 
it was their nature, Mr Hamilton assured them, for 
they were well cared for and had plenty to eat. 

And now they had reached the door of the mansion, 
twice as big as Matoschik, with footmen in livery, 
and all the luxury that would be found in an English 
country-house. 

‘ James, you must explain that I have a very small 
appetite,’ said Miss Hamilton, as the servants were 
taking off their wraps. Poor Miss Hamilton would 
have begged off if she had not been very anxious 
to make up to her brother for her doubts of the 
night before; and the thought of a Kussian lunch, 
with its endless courses and its innumerable dishes 
of unknown meats, filled her with dismay. 

‘They are such old friends of mine that I will 
tell them anything you like. Would you like a 
plain chop? I dare say they’d kill a sheep in a 
moment,’ said Mr Hamilton. 

‘ Kill a sheep to give me a chop ? Certainly not ; 
besides, I do not care particularly for chops. But 
all these entries and hors d^oeuvre, made of reindeers’ 
and wolves’ tongues and other strange animals, are 
a terrible trial to me. And, James, remember I am a 
strict abstainer,’ she added suddenly. 

Nina and her father both laughed ; for, as a matter 


AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 335 

of fact, though she seldom took any stimulant, Miss 
Hamilton was not a strict abstainer, or had not been 
till she came to Russia, when she had announced 
after a dinner at the Poltiskoifs’ that she would be so 
for the future. 

‘ And, papa, I think I would like to be one too — 
at any rate, for to-day ; I really can’t drink vodka, 
or any of their drinks ; they are so strong.’ 

‘No, no; I will see to that. But there is no 
danger; they will probably have only light French 
wines. Your mother never took anything but water 
either, and they were very fond of her.’ 

And so Nina found, for she was greeted with much 
affection for her mother’s sake, whom she resembled 
so much that her hostess’s eyes were full of tears 
when she had a good look at the girl. 

‘ She is her mother’s very image — is she not, Nikolai 
Paulovitch ? ’ she asked her husband, who agreed. 

And then the rest of the house-party came, and 
Nina found that there were about thirty people 
altogether, and that there was to be a great hunt 
the next day, and that she and her aunt were 
being begged to stay, while Mr Hamilton went home 
to do his business and come over and join them next 
morning. 

Miss Hamilton was firm in her decision to go back 
with her brother. She told her hostess privately of 


336 AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 

the story of the shot, omitting, as may be supposed, 
her own mistake, and said she should not sleep if 
she were away from him. 

Mr Hamilton, however, seeing that they would 
really be vexed if Nina was not left, and that Nina 
looked as if she would like to stay, allowed her 
to remain. 

‘You will not feel lonely without any English 
people near you ? ’ he asked. 

* Oh no, papa ; you know I always feel with Russians 
as if they were English, and I should like to know 
a friend of mammas,’ said Nina wistfully. 

‘ Poor child ! you want her badly at your age. 
Well, Daria Stepanovna was a great friend of your 
mother’s; they were about the same age, and you 
will be quite happy with her,’ said her father as 
he went off, after promising to send Anna and a 
portmanteau. 

‘There, miss! I shall always use my judgment in 
future. If I hadn’t put in an evening-frock and an 
extra smart blouse, where would you be ? ’ inquired 
Anna triumphantly, as she produced the afore- 
mentioned articles of clothing. 

Nina only laughed. She was enjoying being away 
from Moscow and plots and revolutions, and visiting 
at a cheerful country-house, with a merry party and 
a girl of her own age, who had sworn eternal friend- 


AN ALARMING NIGHT AND A PEACEFUL DAY. 337 

ship with her, and told Nina of her own peaceful life 
here, and how glad she was to meet another girl, 
which she had not done since last summer, that 
they spent in the Crimea in their castle, overlooking 
the sea, and where she had immediately invited Nina 
in pressing terms. 

‘You might be at home, miss — mightn’t you? 
Everything is so comfortable, and they are all so 
cheerful,’ said Anna that night after a dance, which 
had extended to the servants’ hall. 

And the next day she might have repeated the 
remark, for the hunt-breakfast was much like an 
English one, and all the neighbours came for miles 
round, the nearest twenty miles off; and the men 
started off for the forest of rough pines and firs, 
and the ladies joined them for tea, and the day 
passed all too soon ; and Nina was sorry to go home 
with her father, and say good-bye to these friends 
of her dead mother, who petted her and mothered 
her in a way she had not been petted for some time, 
in spite of her father’s devotion. 

After two days, which passed in a return visit 
of their Kussian friends and others who knew Mr 
Hamilton, they returned to Moscow. 


S.M. 


V 


CHAPTER XXVIIL 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


HE long Lenten Fast was nearly at an end 



JL when the Hamiltons returned to Moscow, and 
already the shops were beginning to look very 
gay with the grand toilets that were displayed 
in the windows in readiness for the Easter Com- 
munion, and the streets to be thronged with people 
gazing at them and buying them, and peasants from 
the surrounding villages, who had come for the fair 
and to buy Easter eggs and other things for the 
great Easter feast. The bells, the beautiful silver 
bells of Moscow, had been silent during these weeks, 
except on rare occasions just for some service, and 
then usually only one bell, not a chime ; and Miss 
Hamilton for one had openly rejoiced at a little peace 
and quiet early in the morning. 

As Nina drove through the quaint, irregular 
streets of Moscow, and again looked upon the in- 
numerable churches, with their green, blue, and gold- 
spangled cupolas, she felt her spirits sink, in spite 
of the busy streets, the bright sun, and the nearly 
melted snow. Even the thought of seeing Nathalia, 
whom she really liked so much, did not console her at 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


339 


all. There was always a feeling of uneasiness when 
she was with Nathalia now, much as she loved her ; 
either she was sad and nervous, or else Olga turned 
up, and that was very uncomfortable; although the 
latter was very good and only shook hands with Nina, 
never attempting to speak to her, which made Nina 
feel all the worse. 

So when she got home and found a note of wel- 
come from Nathalia, and an invitation to go and 
shop with her to-morrow to buy her ‘Communion 
dress,’ Nina did not feel as delighted as she used to do. 

‘I thought you said Kussians took Communion 
even as babies in the Orthodox Greek Church, 
James?’ remarked Miss Hamilton to her brother 
when Nina showed her the invitation. 

‘ So they do, only they mix a good deal of water 
with the wine for the babies,’ replied Mr Hamilton, 
who was busy reading his correspondence — which had 
accumulated in these few days’ absence — and was 
not paying much attention to the other two. 

‘Then why is Nathalia having a Confirmation 
dress?’ inquired his sister. Miss Hamilton never 
grasped any custom which was not English, and 
she imagined that this new dress must be a white 
Confirmation dress such as Nina had when she was 
confirmed, or as girls wear in France and other 
Catholic countries for their first Communion, 


340 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


‘ Confirmation dress ? Are you sure she does not 
say Communion dress ? That is what she means, 
anyway. Nina had better get one too ; and you too, 
Penelope,’ he observed, as he cut open another letter. 
But he was not allowed to read it in peace. 

‘ I ? Get a Communion dress ? Are you dreaming, 
James? What should I do in the Greek church?’ 
and Miss Hamilton looked at her brother as if she 
thought he really must have taken leave of his senses 
this time. 

But her brother was deeply interested in the letter 
he had just opened, and answered abstractedly, ‘ Very 
well — very well; do as you like, but you will feel 
rather out of it. Nina had better have one, anyhow ; 
it ’s the proper thing.’ 

Miss Hamilton saw that it was no use to talk to her 
brother at that moment ; besides which, she had every 
intention of doing as she liked. And as for Nina, 
Miss Hamilton supposed she must do as her father 
wished, though what he was thinking of, when Nina 
had been confirmed in her own church at home, his 
sister could not imagine. 

Nor, as a matter of fact, could Nina, whose faith in 
her father was greatly tried, and who determined 
when he was less busy to speak to him about it. 
‘ Aunt Pen always says the wrong thing and worries 
him,’ she decided. Accordingly, when her father had 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 341 

read his letters and took out his cigar-case with an 
air of relief, Nina began, ‘ Papa, what shall I want a 
Communion dress for ? I am not a Russian.’ 

A twinkle came into Mr Hamilton’s eyes. * Oh, so 
that ’s it, is it ? Really, it seems to me that we are 
enacting a comedy of errors, all of us — misunder- 
standing each other/ he said with a laugh. 

‘But, papa, it is really rather your fault; you 
won’t explain anything to us. And what do people 
want a Communion dress for when they are not going 
to Communion? I can’t see what Nathalia wants 
one for even, far less I.’ 

‘ You will see on Easter Eve ; and I should advise 
you to consult Madame PoltiskofF, who has great 
taste, when you go to choose Nathalia’s to-morrow/ 
suggested her father. 

As Nina saw that her father was in a teasing 
mood and would say no more, she asked him no 
further questions, and determined to wait till the 
next morning and see what Nathalia wanted a new 
Communion dress for, and whether it was a Russian 
way of talking of a wedding or some such fete. 

After they had finished supper — for they had 
arrived too late for dinner — Miss Hamilton said she 
was tired and went to bed, and Nina followed her 
example. Their two bedrooms adjoined each other, 
and just as she was getting into bed Nina heard a 


342 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


maid knock at Miss Hamilton’s door and announce * a 
visit.’ 

A visit at that time of night meant but one thing 
to Nina, who trembled for a moment, and then drew 
herself up, and said boldly through the door to her 
aunt, ‘ I ’ll go and see them. Aunt Pen.’ 

‘Nonsense!’ expostulated Miss Hamilton; *I have 
sent to ask what they want coming at this hour. If 
there is anything the matter they should go to their 
own relations, and not come to us in the middle of 
the night.’ 

‘ But it ’s us they want,’ suggested Nina. 

‘Apparently; but I don’t want them,’ returned 
Miss Hamilton. 

Nina, who thought all this time that this visit was 
by ‘ Order of the Czar,’ waited anxiously to hear the 
result, and presently heard her father’s footsteps along 
the corridor, and his voice saying to Miss Hamilton, 
‘ Madame Poltiskoff has come to call, Penelope.’ 

‘ What is the matter ? What does she want to see 
me for ? Won’t you do ? ’ replied Miss Hamilton. ‘ I 
have gone to bed.’ 

‘You must get up again, then,’ said her brother 
irritably. 

‘ Is it anything important ? ’ inquired his sister. 

‘ It ’s a call. You know, this is a very ordinary hour 
for Russians to call,’ explained Mr Hamilton. 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


343 


‘ Half-past eleven ! You mean to tell me that 
Madame Poltiskoff considers that an ordinary time to 
pay a call ? She must be mad ! Well, wait till I put 
on my dressing-gown,’ grumbled Miss Hamilton. 

‘Penelope, you cannot receive a call of ceremony 
in that flowered garment of yours ! You must put on 
an evening-dress, and make haste about it, unless you 
wish to offend my friends,’ replied Mr Hamilton very 
decidedly. 

Nina gave a little giggle. The thought of her 
aunt, gaunt and dignified, in her ‘ flowered garment,’ 
as her father called it, going to receive the Poltiskofis, 
who would no doubt be dressed in the latest fashion, 
amused her immensely. 

She did not think she could be heard; but Miss 
Hamilton called out from her room, ‘ It is not in the 
least funny, Nina, and you at all events need not 
come ; ’ and Nina heard her muttering to herself, 
‘ Dreadful country, ridiculous customs — calling at this 
time of night ! * 

* Ask about our Communion dresses. Aunt Penelope!’ 
cried out Nina. 

* I shall do nothing of the sort ; I do not require 
any such thing, nor, I should hope, do you!’ she 
retorted. 

She had not been gone more than ten minutes 
when she returned, and observed to Nina, ‘ They have 


344 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


gone, thank goodness ! They actually wanted me to 
come for a moonlight drive through Moscow ! The 
idea, at my age ! * 

‘ It would look lovely with all the pretty coloured 
churches, and St Saviour’s with its gold cupolas and 
all the glittering minarets 1 ’ said Nina. 

But Miss Hamilton was not artistically disposed, 
and was too sleepy to listen to Nina’s poetical rhap- 
sody, and the two were soon asleep. 

The next morning Nathalia and her mother called 
for Nina in their smart three-horsed carriage, which 
Miss Hamilton disliked driving in because of what 
she called the antics of the horses, by which she 
meant the custom, already mentioned, that the two 
outside horses have of proceeding with their heads 
turned back towards the driver and looking you 
in the face — another Russian custom which Miss 
Hamilton found ridiculous. 

‘ You must give us your advice, Nina. Natasha and 
I cannot agree as to the colour of her new dress for 
Easter. She wants gray, because you wore such a 
pretty gray dress one evening, and I want white, as, 
of course, she cannot wear colours yet,’ said Madame 
Poltiskoff, as they drove off at a gallop and swerved 
round the corner of the pink church. 

‘Gray is not my favourite colour; and I think 
white would suit you better, Natasha,’ said Nina. 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


345 


‘ Oh, but wait till you see the lovely dress I want ; 
it has come straight from Paris and is in the latest 
fashion ! ’ cried Nathalia. 

‘ I think our Russian dresses are just as pretty, and 
often in better taste ; they are not so extravagantly 
fashionable,’ put in her mother. 

And then they arrived at the large shop, rather 
like a West-End draper’s in London, and were taken by 
the lift to the costume department ; and there Nina 
saw an exhibition of dresses for the feast of Easter, 
and stared in amazement at their grandeur. 

‘Look, Nina! that is the one I want! Isn’t it 
pretty ? Do say “ Yes ” ! ’ cried Nathalia, pointing to 
a pale-gray, embroidered, chiffon dress over gray silk, 
with short transparent sleeves and low neck. 

It was very pretty, though Nina thought it was 
rather too grand for a girl of Nathalia’s age ; but she 
said, ‘ It is very pretty indeed ! Is it for a ball, 
Nathalia ?’ 

‘No; it is for my Communion — my Easter Com- 
munion,’ said Nathalia. ‘You must come to the 
church that morning, and congratulate me after- 
wards. Won’t you ? ’ 

‘Yes, of course,’ said Nina, though what she was to 
congratulate her for she did not know. 

Eventually Nathalia had the gray dress, which 
fitted her to perfection. 


346 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


‘It will save trouble if we have this one, which 
wants no alteration, for the dressmakers are all so 
busy that they do not care to take any new orders,’ 
said Madame Poltiskoff; and added, ‘And they will 
have to make mine, for I do not like ready-made 
gowns, and I cannot wear my white satin now.’ 

The Poltiskoffs dressed very elaborately. Miss 
Hamilton said there was something barbaric in 
their splendid gowns; and Madame Poltiskoff now 
ordered a most expensive dinner or ball dress, as 
Nina thought, in black satin, with black overdress. 

‘ I suppose you will like to come to the great Easter 
service ? It is on Easter Eve at midnight, and is a 
beautiful sight. We all wish each other a happy 
Easter. We are going to the private chapel of my 
uncle, and shall be delighted to take you,’ said 
Madame Poltiskoff. 

‘Thank you very much. Yes, I should like to 
come ; I have read that it ’s a wonderful sight. And 
is that what you want these grand dresses for,* 
asked Nina ; ‘ and shall I want one too ? ’ 

‘ No ; you have such pretty dresses — that gray one 
I was speaking of, or that pale blue you wore at 
our dance, will be just the thing,’ said Madame 
Poltiskoff. 

‘ But in a church ? It is an evening-dress ! * 
objected Nina. 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 847 

*We all wear evening-dresses at church on Easter 
Eve/ explained Madame PoltiskolF. 

‘I have got my Easter-Communion dress, Aunt 
Pen/ said Nina when she came home; ‘it is pale 
blue ; and Nathalia has gray, and Madame Poltiskoff s 
is black satin and black jet." 

‘ Indeed ? " was all Miss Hamilton’s comment, and she 
declined to talk about it at all, to Nina’s disappoint- 
ment, who wanted to tease her aunt. The fact was, 
Nina was so glad to find every one so happy and full 
of the Easter feast that her spirits rose rapidly. 

The morning of Easter Eve Nathalia called for 
Nina, dressed in her gray dress, as Nina saw, though 
she was well wrapped up. Mr Hamilton sent Anna 
with Nina, as Miss Hamilton declined to go, and saw 
Nina off at that early hour of the morning — it was 
eight o’clock — in her evening-dress, with strong, though 
silent, disapproval. 

‘You are pale, Nathalia. Are you cold?" asked 
Nina as they drove along. 

‘No; I am only hungry. I have not eaten any- 
thing for twenty-four hours, you see, and I always 
feel hungry on these occasions." 

‘And no wonder, miss. Pray take a cup of tea; 
I ’ll get it ready if you come back," cried Anna with 
concern. 

‘ No, we do not eat till after the Communion ; but 


348 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


it is nothing. See, here we are at the chapel, and 
must wait our turn with the other carriages,’ said 
Nathalia, as the carriages in front let out their 
occupants in long wraps, under which Nina saw the 
gleam of silks and velvets of all colours. 

But even she was not prepared for the sight in the 
church, with all those pretty dresses and the beautiful 
chanting and the lights. 

‘ Miss, they haven’t got any hats on ! ’ cried Anna, 
as she and Nina took up their places against a pillar 
a little way off from the chancel, and watched the 
long queue of people going up on to the raised platform 
to Communion by one railed staircase and coming 
down the other — all, rich and poor, young and old, 
hatless and dressed in their best. The few peasants 
admitted by special leave into this private chapel 
were clean and neatly dressed, with white silk shawls 
round their shoulders to make them look smart. 

‘ I shall keep my hat on, Anna. I don’t know why 
they take theirs off ; but it is a church, and we are 
told to keep our heads covered,’ said Nina. 

‘ So we are. St Paul says so, and so I shall,’ agreed 
Anna. 

They stood for some time, and at length they 
saw the Poltiskoff family — that is to say, Mr and 
Madame Poltiskoff, Zina and her fianc6, and Nathalia 
— go up to Communion, and then come down the other 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


349 


side, and from a table near the east end take a cake and 
some hot wine and water which a priest distributed 
to all, and for which they made a small offering in a 
silver offertory-plate. 

‘ Oh miss ! I am glad poor Miss Nathalia has had 
something to eat, though it is in church ; and perhaps 
as it ’s a Russian church it doesn’t matter,’ observed 
Anna. 

‘ I think it is special wine and cake, and I am sure 
they want it,’ said Nina, who did not like to criticise 
other people’s religion ; but even she was taken aback 
when the family, having partaken of this slight 
nourishment, turned and kissed each other. As there 
were a good many of them, it was quite a business ; 
and then Nath alia came and kissed Nina and brought 
her to the end of the church, where special seats had 
been put, and the whole family were assembled, 
sitting in a circle and chatting together, ‘ as if it were 
a party,’ as Anna described it to Miss Hamilton when 
they got home. 

‘ I have half a mind not to go to-night, only it is 
said to be such a wonderful sight, and it will be 
stupid to go back to England without having seen it,’ 
Miss Hamilton remarked doubtfully. 

‘You will have another chance next year. Aunt 
Pen, and perhaps you will be more used to Russian 
ways by then.’ 


350 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


‘ I think not/ said Miss Hamilton grimly. 

However, she put on her black velvet, in which she 
looked so imposing, and her diamonds, ‘Which will 
perhaps make up for my not being low-necked, a 
thing I could not bring myself to be in a church,’ 
she remarked; and they all, in evening-dress, went 
off at about eleven o’clock in the evening to the 
Poltiskoffs’ chapel. 

If the morning had been grand, the evening was 
ten times more so ; for everybody, including even Olga, 
was there, and the ladies shone with diamonds and 
other jewels, and the silk dresses made a rustling 
sound, which made Nina feel as if she were at a ball 
— a religious ball, only there is not such a thing. 

But presently Miss Hamilton’s reverent demeanour 
recalled to her that she was in church, and she listened 
to the chanting, till the priest turned to the people 
and said something in a loud voice, and then every 
one lighted a candle, and a great cry went up that 
even Nina thought she should have known meant 
‘ Yes, He is risen ! ’ and every one turned to every one 
else and cried, ‘Christ is risen!’ The tears of joy 
rolled down the cheeks of many of those present, 
and then the great bell of the Kremlin pealed out, 
which was the signal for all the bells in Russia to 
peal, and peal they did; every church in Moscow 
rang its lustiest, and amid the clanging of bells they 


EASTER IN MOSCOW. 


851 


all went home — that is to say, either to their own homes 
or to other people’s. The Hamiltons, including Miss 
Hamilton, went to the PoltiskofFs’, the latter having 
promised not to make her eat anything hut an Easter 
cake (‘ Which will no doubt be dreadfully rich ! ’) ; and 
there they found the house brilliantly illuminated, the 
table spread with a sumptuous supper, and presents 
at each place. 

Every one was full of fun. Olga laughed and 
joked to her sister about her presents, that were 
more numerous than other people’s, which, she de- 
clared, was not fair ; and Zina advised Olga to follow 
her example, which Olga said might not be a bad 
idea if she had such lovely boxes of bonbons promised 
to her. 

Nina had beautiful boxes of chocolates and all sorts 
of things, and even Miss Hamilton thawed under the 
generosity showered upon them. 

‘And one might almost think one was in happy 
England,’ said Nina to herself, as she went home 
very tired, but hugging her pretty satin box of sweets 
and her gloves and fan. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 

F or the next week there was nothing but parties, 
and Miss Hamilton decided that she ought to 
give one too. ‘ Though how I am to manage a Rus- 
sian party, when I shall not understand half what 
my guests say when they talk to me, I don’t know, 
I am sure,’ she observed doubtfully. 

‘ I will act as your interpreter, and you understand 
French,’ said her brother, who approved of the idea. 

* A little,’ corrected Miss Hamilton, as she sat down 
to make a list of the people to be invited. 

‘And I think I ought to give a party too, papa,’ 
announced Nina. 

Her father laughed. ‘ Whom are you going to ask ? 
It will have to be a party of one, won’t it? You 
have only one friend of your own age,’ he said. 

‘ Indeed, I have heaps ! All my class are my friends,* 
Nina protested. 

‘You can’t issue invitations like that; but I dare 
say I know most of their parents, so make your list, 
and we’ll get our parties over. I owe a lot of 
hospitality in Moscow,’ said Mr Hamilton. 

Nina’s list took less time than her aunt’s, for Miss 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


353 


Hamilton could not read the visiting-cards, which 
were in Kussian, and had no surnames in most cases, 
but ‘Zina the daughter of Nikolai,’ to put it into 
plain English. ‘As if there were not thousands of 
Zinas whose fathers were called Nikolai!’ objected 
Miss Hamilton. So, while she was struggling with 
her guests’ names, Nina handed her list to her father, 
who found, as he had expected, that he knew a good 
many of them personally, and all by name. 

‘ But you know, Nina, this is rather a mixture ; I 
am afraid we cannot have them all the same day,’ he 
remarked as he read the names. 

‘Well, let’s divide them up — the rich ones on 
Wednesday and the poor ones on Thursday,’ suggested 
Nina. 

‘That’s a very snobbish division,’ said Miss Hamilton, 
looking up from her desk. 

‘And, as it happens, it would not answer at all. 
Some of the poor ones would not meet any of the 
others; they are far more important, and some of 
these we must strike out ; they belong to families I do 
not wish to know on any account,’ said Mr Hamilton, 
drawing his pencil through some names. 

‘Dear me, James! And yet Nina has to know 
them and be friends with them ! ’ protested Miss 
Hamilton. 

‘The girls are well behaved enough; it is only 

aM. w 


354 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


their parents’ politics I object to, and will not be 
mixed up with. — Well, Nina, send out your invitations, 
and we will leave you mistress of the house for that 
day, and you can give them an English tea-party,’ 
said her father good-naturedly. 

Miss Hamilton, with much assistance from her 
brother, at last arranged for her dinner and reception, 
and Mr Hamilton took up the list to see if any one 
had been omitted. *I see you have invited all the 
PoltiskofF family,’ he remarked, laying a stress upon 
the all. 

‘ It would have been so invidious to leave out one, 
and she is much more sensible now, James; her 
mother told me she was quite hopeful about the 
future,’ pleaded Miss Hamilton, who had always a 
secret admiration, not to say affection, for Olga. 

‘ I am glad to hear it. Olga used to be a great pet 
of ours when she was a little child. But lately, how- 
ever, as you say, she seems more sensible; so, in 
charity’s name, let us ask her, and encourage her to 
be sensible and mix in respectable society,’ said Mr 
Hamilton. 

Nina was just going to protest that Olga’s friends 
were, at least, respectable; but she thought it best 
to be quiet. Besides, she knew what her father was 
thinking of was their views, which he considered far 
from desirable^ 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


355 


And so the invitations were sent out, and most 
of them accepted, for Mr Hamilton was known and 
liked in Moscow, where he had much influence and 
property; and Nina's party took place, and was a 
great success, though the tea had to be sent away 
and a samovar brought in, so that weak tea might 
be made more to the taste of her guests, who could 
not drink the strong tea Anna made. 

And then the evening of Miss Hamilton’s grand 
dinner came. The rooms were decorated by a Moscow 
firm, and the dinner arranged according to Russian 
taste, and Miss Hamilton made up in gracious smiles and 
well-learnt French phrases of welcome for her ignorance 
of Russian ; and after the dinner the guests all rose, 
the ladies filing round the table to her to thank her 
for her hospitality, and the men doing the same to 
Mr Hamilton ; and when they had all shaken hands 
to express their gratitude, they passed into the large 
reception-rooms, and the other guests began to arrive. 

Olga came, looking prettier than she had ever done. 
Miss Hamilton thought, in her white dress with black 
velvet bands, and was by common consent decided to 
be the prettiest girl in the rooms. And then the 
surprise of the evening — which was Mr Hamilton’s 
idea — came. Suddenly a door at the far end of the 
large salon opened and rolled back, so as to discover 
a stage of a theatre, and the overture to a play began. 


356 A PARTY AND A PLOT. 

All hastened to take chairs or to stand in rows 
in the long salon, and the actors, specially brought 
from St Petersburg by Mr Hamilton, began to play. 

Even Nina had not known about it, and was stand- 
ing watching them when Anna came and said to her, 
‘ Please, miss, they want you.* 

Nina, who was standing near a door, turned sharply, 
and asked, ‘ Who wants me, and what for ? ’ 

‘ One of the actors, miss. I expect it ’s something 
they want in a hurry, for he said, “ Tell her to make 
haste.’* * 

In the excitement of the evening, it did not strike 
Nina that this was a very odd way to send for the 
daughter of the house, nor that it would have been 
more suitable to send for her father, who had 
arranged the affair, rather than for her, who knew 
nothing about the matter. So she followed Anna at 
once; but as she turned to go out of the room she 
caught Olga’s eye, and stopped abruptly. There had 
been such a peculiar look in her glance that Nina felt 
suddenly as if a cloud had come over her enjoyment. 
Her mind was made up. She crossed the room to 
where Olga was standing, determined to ask her why 
she had looked at her like that, almost triumphantly. 
But the room was crowded, and by the time she got 
to where Olga had been standing, the latter was 
nowhere to be seen ; and after much craning of her 


A PAETY AND A PLOT. 


357 


neck, she saw her wedged in among some people, 
where it was impossible to get at her without dis- 
turbing the audience. Nina stood there, feeling irri- 
tated against Olga, who she was sure had purposely 
moved away to avoid her, and was forgetting Anna’s 
message, when the maid appeared at the door and 
looked imploringly at Nina. Again Nina crossed the 
room and said, ‘Well, what is it? Why don’t they 
send for papa ? ’ 

‘He’s right in the front, miss. The gentleman 
says it would cause too much disturbance to fetch 
him out, but that you will do just as well.’ 

‘Very well. I’ll come,’ said Nina; and she went out 
of the room and down the corridor to the stage-door, 
and there saw several Russian actors and actresses 
standing together talking. They said something to 
each other when Nina appeared, and all except one 
disappeared up the steps to the platform to a kind of 
green-room screened off from the stage. 

The Russian who was left — a tall, stout man with 
a bushy gray, beard — bowed when Nina appeared, and 
said in French, ‘ Mademoiselle, I have come to ask a 
favour. I am so unwell that I cannot continue my 
part, and I wish to know if there is a room in which 
I can rest quietly for an hour.’ 

The poor man looked so pale and his eyes shone 
so feverishly that Nina without hesitation said, ‘ Oh, 


858 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


certainly. Won’t you have something to eat or some 
wine or anything ? ’ 

But the Eussian waved his hand. ‘I only want 
quiet. If I could sit quietly for an hour I should be 
better ; but it must be a quiet room, and I should 
be glad to go there as quickly as possible.’ 

‘ Come with me,’ said Nina, leading the way back 
along the corridor. 

‘No, no, not where there are guests; they might 
see me,’ said the actor. Then, noticing Nina’s look of 
surprise, he added, ‘ I do not wish them to know that 
I am ill and not able to play to-night ; it would do 
me harm.’ 

‘I see,’ said Nina sympathetically. ‘Then come 
this way ; this is my little sitting-room — no one ever 
comes here, excepting Anna to dust it, and this door 
is generally locked, for I go into it through my bed- 
room. No one will disturb you.’ 

Then she left the poor old man, and returned to 
the salon, where the play, which was a very amus- 
ing one, was in full swing. Olga was laughing as 
heartily as any one, and finding herself near Nina, 
she said, ‘ It is so clever. Why did you go away and 
miss it ? ’ 

‘One of the actors was ill. But I forgot; he did 
not want it to be known, he said.’ 

‘ No, of course not ; it does not do for poor folk 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


359 


who have to earn their living to be ill/ said Olga, 
with a touch of her old bitterness. 

‘Anyway, he is comfortably lying on my sitting- 
room sofa,’ said Nina quickly. 

‘ That is right ; you are a good little soul, Nina, 
and will be glad of doing good,’ said Olga heartily as 
she squeezed Nina’s hand. 

Then they were silent, for the play was going on; 
and soon it ended, whereupon, after much applause 
and congratulations to Mr Hamilton for his delightful 
surprise, the chairs were swiftly removed and dancing 
began. Olga danced as merrily as any one, and Miss 
Hamilton was surprised when she came after the 
second dance to thank her for a pleasant evening and 
say she must go. 

‘ I feel as if I could not dance any more,’ she said 
to her mother, and the latter, who never crossed Olga 
if she could help it, let her go. — ‘May I put my 
things on in your room, Nina ? ’ asked Olga. 

‘Yes, of course,’ said Nina, leading the way. 

‘No, no, don’t come; Anna will help me. I am 
going to walk home to calm my excitement. You 
go back to the dance,’ said Olga. 

And Nina, who knew that her father did not care 
for her to be alone with Olga, appreciated Olga’s tact, 
which made this easy, and left her to go with Anna, 
who was somewhere in the corridor. 


360 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


‘ Miss Nina, I 'm sorry to trouble you again, but is 
Miss Olga’s fan here?’ inquired Anna a moment 
after. 

‘ I don’t see it anywhere, but it may be, only we 
shall never find it in this crowd. What is it like ? * 
asked Nina. 

‘ I don’t know,’ replied Anna. 

‘ Then you ’d better ask. How can we look for a 
fan we don’t know the colour of or anything about ? ’ 
objected Nina. 

Anna went off, and after some time came back to 
say that Miss Olga had it in her hand all the time 
and was very sorry. 

‘All right,’ said Nina, and thought no more about 
it. 

But the evening was not destined to pass without 
a cloud, for about ten minutes later Mr Hamilton, 
looking very much annoyed, came down the room 
with a Russian in evening-dress, who, after passing 
slowly along and looking at the guests as he came 
to them, went down the corridor to the stage-door. 
There he spoke to all the actors and actresses, who 
were just going, and after many bows and apologies 
he went off. 

‘What’s the matter, papa?’ asked Nina, slipping 
her arm into her father’s. 

‘ Nothing now, dear,* he replied. 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


361 


Nina saw that he meant to be asked no more 
questions, and was silent. And with this slight 
annoyance, which Nina knew was an annoyance, the 
evening closed; and a most successful one it had 
been. 

‘And what a lot of different uniforms, James! I 
should think we had all the government of Moscow 
here,’ said Miss Hamilton when the last guest had 
taken his leave. 

‘ All except the governor ; he was prevented at the 
last minute from coming, and a good thing, too, as it 
turned out,’ said her brother. 

‘Why? I like him, and I particularly wanted 
to have him; he is the most important person in 
Moscow,’ she replied. 

‘ So other people think, and therefore they want to 
get rid of him.’ 

‘Well, that need not have prevented him from 
coming to my party when he accepted,’ said Miss 
Hamilton. 

‘ I am not so sure of that ; it appears that one of 
my guests was here for the express purpose of getting 
rid of him,’ said her brother. 

‘ Olga ? ’ cried Miss Hamilton in horrified accents. 

‘ Probably,’ replied her brother, with a shrug of his 
shoulders ; ‘ but I don’t want to know any particulars. 
Thank Heaven, he did not come, and so my house 


362 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


was nofc the scene of a murder ! ' He spoke bitterly, 
and his sister and daughter made no reply, the latter 
guessing at once that the Russian in evening-dress 
who had walked down the room with her father was 
a secret agent, come to look for the culprit. She 
was glad Olga had escaped; but she felt as if she 
should never enjoy anything again in Russia — it was 
too uncomfortable. 

Then she went to bed, and slept peacefully, without 
dreaming at all, and woke next day to remember that 
she was to go back to school the following day, and 
had better learn her lessons. 

She was just returning to her little sitting-room to 
do so, when Anna came to her in her bedroom to tell 
her that Miss PoltiskofF wished to see her. 

‘ Oh, tell her to come here ; I am just going to do 
my lessons, so she can come into my sitting-room to 
me,’ said Nina, who imagined that Nathalia had come, 
as she generally did every day, on some pretext or 
other, during the holidays. Nina had her hand upon 
the door of her sitting-room as she spoke, and as 
Anna disappeared to fetch her visitor Nina turned 
the handle; but what was her surprise to find it 
locked, and no key to be seen ! ‘ What can Anna be 
thinking of ? ’ she exclaimed, and waited rather im- 
patiently for Anna to reappear and give her the key. 
Suddenly, however, she heard a movement in the 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


363 


next room, and the remembrance of the Eussian 
whom she had put in there to rest flashed across her 
mind. ' He must still be there ; then he must be ill ! ’ 
Nina did not know what to do. Her father had gone 
out, or she would have fetched him. She decided to 
go to the dvornik; but just as she was leaving the 
room Olga entered. *Oh Olga!’ exclaimed Nina, 
half-glad and half-embarrassed. 

‘Yes. I would not have come if I could have 
helped it, but I want to fetch something I left in 
your sitting-room,’ said Olga hastily. 

‘I suppose you mean that old Russian who pre- 
tended to be ill, and has stayed there all night ? ’ said 
Nina angrily, for she felt that she had been duped. 

Nina stood and faced Olga indignantly, and the 
Russian girl looked defiantly back at her as she said 
calmly, ‘Yes, I mean the old Russian who asked your 
hospitality last night, and whom I locked in. I will 
now let him out ; ’ and she stepped forward and undid 
the door. ‘Ivan,’ she said, and added something 
rapidly in Russian, at which the Russian nodded his 
head, and his eyes, which looked just as feverish as 
they had done the night before, gleamed with a fierce 
light, and his cheeks seemed to pale as he replied 
slowly and distinctly in the same tongue. But they 
had both iorgotten that Nina knew some Russian 
now, and she understood what the man said. 


364 


A PARTY AND A PLOT. 


With a cry of horror she sprang forward, and, 
catching the old man by the arm, cried in English, 
‘No, no ; you shall not go — you shall not go, I say I’ 

‘And how will you prevent him?' inquired Olga 
coldly. 

‘ By calling the dvornih to seize him and you too, 
if you stir out of this room this morning ! ’ declared 
Nina, and she stood against the door with such a 
determined mien that Olga looked in despair at her 
friend. 

He too looked at Nina in doubt for a minute, and 
then said, ‘ She will not send you to certain death or 
exile ; I shall go ! ' and attempted to pass her. 

But Nina, quick as thought, turned the key in the 
door, and with her hand on the electric bell, cried 
again, ‘If either of you move I will ring for the 
dvornih. Three times brings him or a man-servant, 
and I will do it, as sure as I stand here ! ' 

Olga grew very white, but it was from rage, not fear. 
‘She has balked us after all; and such a child, too. 
I thought ' she said. 

‘Yes, you thought you could make a cat’s-paw of 
me ; but you were mistaken ! * 

She had just said this, when a knocking was heard 
at the door ; and the old man, glancing round for a 
way of escape, and finding none, said calmly, ‘Hal 
Trapped ! ’ and sank into a chair. 



‘If either of you move I will ring for the dronulc.’ 


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MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


HE knocking continued; but Nina, however 



1 much she might threaten to give up Olga 
to justice when she was excited, could not do it in 
cold blood, and she stood still, without making any 
attempt to open the door. 

‘What does this mean, Nina? Why do you not 
open to me at once ? Is Olga still with you ? ’ cried 
the voice of Miss Hamilton from outside. 

‘ Yes, Aunt Penelope,’ replied Nina, as she reluctantly 
opened the door. 

‘ Good-morning, Olga But who is this ? Anna 

told me that only one visitor had come ! ’ exclaimed 
Miss Hamilton, looking at the old man. 

‘I think I had better explain,’ said Olga calmly; 
‘ and then you can do as Nina wishes to do, and that 
is send for the police and have us both sent off to 
Siberia ! ’ 

Miss Hamilton sat down on a chair and stared at 
Olga. ‘Yes; I think you had better explain. Pray 
what have you been doing for Nina to threaten such 
a dreadful thing ? Not that I don’t think you both 
deserve it,’ she added. 


366 


MISS HAMILTON'S PLOT. 


‘ We were deputed to execute a piece of justice this 
morning, and Nina, who unfortunately understands 
Russian, overheard me tell my friend here that the 
hour had come, and she refused to let us go ; and now 
I should like to know what you mean to do with 
us,* said Olga, seating herself in her turn, and 
Miss Hamilton noticed that she looked very tired, 
and quite different from what she had done last 
night. 

‘It wasn’t any deed of justice they wanted to 
execute; it was the governor this old man was to 
kill ! ’ cried Nina. 

‘ I guessed as much. Do you know what I call you ? 
A pair of murderers — yes, I do ! You don’t like that 
way of speaking of it; but facts are facts, and to 
take the life of another is murder ! Olga, Olga ! I 
could not have believed it of you ! I knew you had 
impossible ideas of a wonderful reform which you 
were going to bring about quite easily in no time; 
but killing a man — a fellow-creature! God forgive 
you, my child; you do not know what you are 
doing! — But as for you, old man — I don’t know 
whether you can understand English — you ought to 
be ashamed of leading a young girl into crime — at 
your age, too ! ’ 

The old man advanced, and after a glance at Olga, 
whose lips were quivering with the effort to keep 


MISS HAMILTON S PLOT. 


367 


back the tears, he said impetuously, ‘You do her 
wrong ; she knew nothing of this — this act. She was 
drawn into it against her will, and she was obliged 
to obey the commands of our society.’ 

‘ And so was Ivan ; he knew no more than I. But 
it is too late now ! ’ And here Olga raised her head 
proudly and said, ‘ We will bear the consequences of 
our deeds. — I thank you, Nina, that you kept us ; I 
would rather not have blood on my hands. We will 
go now. You need not give us up ; they will take us 
without that.’ 

‘No; that is not British hospitality. You have 
come to our house, and we will protect you — you and 
that old man,’ said Miss Hamilton decidedly. 

‘ I am not an old man, and I will not trespass on 
your hospitality ; I am Ivan Kalska ! ’ said the man, 
throwing off his beard and wig. 

Miss Hamilton gave a gasp. ‘You, young man! 
Well, I am glad at least that you have begun to be 
straightforward. You will find that honesty is the 
best policy. I mean to save you from the effects of 
your folly.’ 

‘Dear madame, it is impossible; you cannot save 
us. I never expected to escape at the last,’ said Ivan 
Ivanovitch quite quietly. 

‘ We shall see. I do not mean to let you be taken 
off to Siberia, much though you deserve it. Now, let 


368 


MISS HAMILTON'S PLOT. 


US think. First put on your wig and beard again, 
and tell me, do you think you could clean knives ? * 
demanded Miss Hamilton. 

The young man smiled. ‘ I could try, but ' 

‘ As for you, Olga, you must remain hidden for the 
present — the dvornik can be trusted; he hates to 
answer questions. Come with me, both of you. — No, 
Nina, you can stay where you are ; I do not wish you 
to be mixed up in my plots,' said her aunt, who went 
out of the room, leaving Nina feeling very uneasy 
and excited. She had not been left alone a minute, 
when Anna announced Nathalia. 

‘I thought Olga was here?' was Nathalia’s first 
remark. 

‘No; she has gone' began Nina, and then 

stopped, for she did not want to explain where Olga 
had gone, and, fortunately for her, Nathalia asked no 
more questions, and the two sat down to do their 
lessons, though Nathalia thought she had never known 
Nina to be so dull of understanding. 

Meanwhile Miss Hamilton led the way to her 
private boudoir, and said to Olga, ‘ I am sorry, but I 
must k)ck you into my linen-cupboard ; it is enormous, 
so you will have plenty of air to breathe and light, 
for there is a window, and I will give you a book to 
read. — And you I want to come for a drive with me,' 
she said to Ivan. 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


869 


He gave a slight start, but, with a bow, said, 
‘ Certainly.’ 

‘ Now if you will kindly go into that room, I will 
bring you some clothes to wear.’ And having locked 
Olga into the cupboard, and Ivan Ivanovitch into a 
small room adjoining her private sitting-room, Miss 
Hamilton disappeared, and presently came back on 
tiptoe with a large bundle of clothes of some uniform 
in her arms. 

‘Now,’ she said when she went into the little 
room, ‘this is the Hamilton livery; it will fit you 
all right if you remain your present size. Please 
put it on.’ 

Ivan, with a light in his eyes, but without showing 
any surprise or other emotion, did as he was told, and 
in about ten minutes knocked at the door of Miss 
Hamilton’s private sitting-room. 

She nodded with satisfaction at his appearance. 
‘ You make a very presentable footman according to 
Russian ideas. Now come downstairs with me, and 
do not speak a word unless you are spoken to. You 
are not a coward, and even if we run a risk of being 
discovered, which I do not think we do, you are pre- 
pared for that ? ’ 

‘Yes, I am prepared; I do not think you will suc- 
ceed in saving me, for you do not know Russia, and 
you cannot smuggle me out of Moscow, and in Moscow 

S.M. X 


370 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


there is no hope for me. But I thank you all the 
same, and only hope you will not cause yourself any 
inconvenience by your generous aid to us.’ 

‘ I am not afraid,’ said Miss Hamilton, whose timidity 
seemed all to have disappeared in the excitement of 
the moment. * They will only send me back to 
England, and that ’s where I mean to go, anyhow.* 

But now they were at the front-door, and the 
dvornik was waiting to show them into the carriage. 
He looked at the new servant, but said nothing. 
Miss Hamilton was considered eccentric, and he sup- 
posed she had got a new servant for herself without 
telling any one. Moreover, he had happened to be 
away from the door for the last hour, and had not 
seen Olga enter, and imagined that this man had 
come by appointment in his absence. He knew it 
was no good asking his name from Miss Hamilton, as 
she spoke no Russian, so made up his mind to inquire 
it from Mr Hamilton, so as to be able to give it to 
the police, as it was his duty to do when a new 
member was added to the household. 

Miss Hamilton made a sign for the new footman to 
mount beside the coachman, and gave the order to 
drive to the governor’s house. 

The new footman did not betray by any move- 
ment that he was alarmed, and they drove olF across 
Moscow, across the Grand Square, and up to the gates 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


371 


of the governor’s house, where they were challenged 
by the soldiers who stood on guard. 

Miss Hamilton gave her card, the coachman said 
something in Russian, and the soldiers stood back and 
let the carriage pass in. At the door of the governor’s 
house Miss Hamilton turned to the new footman and 
said, * Have patience and courage 1 ’ 

The man saluted humbly, and replied, * Barinia* 
(‘ madame ’ in Russian), and Miss Hamilton passed into 
the governor’s house. 

Now the governor was one of the few Russians 
with whom Miss Hamilton got on well. He had 
been in England, and understood her difficulties, and 
was amused by her; and when she was announced, 
he, imagining that she had come to upbraid him for 
his non-appearance last evening, for which he was 
anxious to apologise, gave orders for her to be admitted 
at once. 

‘ I know I have sinned deeply ; but I was unavoid- 
ably detained at the last minute by important State 
affairs,’ said the governor, anticipating her reproaches. 

‘ And thank God that you were, governor ! I have 
come about that very affair,’ said his visitor. 

The governor would have much preferred not to 
talk about attempts upon his life; but he knew 
that when Miss Hamilton wanted to say a thing 
she said it, and, much as he disliked the subject, he 

S.M. X 


372 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


did not resent her, plain speaking, because, after all, 
it was a relief to him to be with a person who he 
knew was safe and a true friend. 

‘ I know that you are a true friend and wish me 
well,’ he replied. 

‘Yes, and I am going to prove it. I am going to 
take out of Russia with me the two people who 
were to have blown you up this morning ! ’ she an- 
nounced. 

The governor looked gravely at Miss Hamilton. 
Even she had no right to talk to him like that. ‘ I 
do not understand ! ’ he said severely. 

‘ I will explain,’ she replied, and she told how Nina 
had understood what the two conspirators had said, 
and had locked them up. Miss Hamilton told it so 
quaintly that even the governor, though he was not 
amused, gave a grim smile. ‘ And now I have come 
to ask you to let me take my new footman with me 
to England, and that misguided young girl too.’ 

‘Where they will manufacture bombs to blow us 
all up,’ he remarked dryly. 

‘No; they will swear to give up politics while 
under my protection, and I think that they are well- 
meaning idealists and would rather not have anything 
to do with those infernal machines. They did not 
like being called murderers,’ replied Miss Hamilton. 

This time the governor did smile. ‘ No, I dare say 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


873 


not ; you English, pardon me, have a very blunt way 
of putting things at times. But what do you wish 
me to do ? Aid my murderers to escape ? ’ 

‘ Yes,’ said Miss Hamilton. 

Again the governor looked at her speechless. 
< But ’ he began. 

‘ They have not murdered you, and that you owe to 
us. Besides, they do not want to do so, and I will 
answer for it that they will never try it again. Let 
me take them away from their bad companions, and 
save two young Russians who have good hearts, and 
who, if they only had time, would fall in love with 
each other,’ said Miss Hamilton, who went on to tell 
him her opinion of the two young conspirators, while 
the governor walked up and down the room. 

‘Very good,’ he said at last. ‘Take them away. 
Who knows ? — you may give them your own sane 
ideas, and give Russia two good citizens. But they 
must promise not to mix in politics again, and then I 
will grant the necessary passports. I should have 
liked to see this young man. I know something about 
him ; he is immensely clever, but flighty. He would 
make a splendid engineer if he would keep to his 
studies.’ 

‘ He is at the door,’ remarked Miss Hamilton coolly. 

The governor started. ‘You have brought him 
here ? And he dared to come ? ’ 


374 MISS Hamilton’s plot. 

‘ He came as my footman. Shall I send for him ? ’ 
she demanded. 

‘You, too, plotting! Fie, Miss Hamilton! What 
would your brother say ? ’ cried the governor. Miss 
Hamilton amused him in spite of the seriousness of 
the situation, and perhaps the thought of the danger 
he had been saved from made his spirits rise. At any 
rate, he seemed in better spirits, and ringing the bell, 
sent for Ivan Ivanovitch. 

The feelings of the latter may well be imagined at 
hearing the message, and it wanted some courage to 
come in ; but he did so. 

‘Ivan Ivanovitch, I should like some words with 
you,’ said the governor sternly, after he had begged 
Miss Hamilton to forgive his speaking in Russian. 

What they spoke about Miss Hamilton did not 
know; but she saw that the young man was much 
moved, and that he suddenly fell down at the 
governor’s feet, and, speaking rapidly, pulled out 
from his wadded pocket a small box and showed it 
to the governor. 

Then she guessed that it was the bomb. ‘For 
Heaven’s sake, it won’t go off?* she cried, springing 
up from her seat. 

‘ No, no ; it is quite harmless now,* said the governor, 
as he watched Ivan do something to the infernal 
machine. 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


375 


Then the governor wrote something on a paper, 
and taking both Miss Hamilton’s hands in his, said, 

‘ Good-bye ; hon voyage. Keep a kind memory of me, 
as I shall of you ; and if you return to Russia and I 
am still alive, be sure that I shall give you a hearty 
welcome ! ’ 

Miss Hamilton shook her head. * I do not think I 
shall ever come back. You must come to England ; 
the air is healthier there ! ’ she concluded grimly. 

The governor smiled, and shaking hands with her 
and Ivan Ivanovitch, he went to the door of the room 
with them. 

And now Miss Hamilton, with a sigh of relief, gave 
the order, ‘ Home ! ’ 

There she found Mr Hamilton, who was sitting 
smoking in the lounge, with a most unpromising 
expression on his face. He looked at his sister when 
she came in, but did not speak. 

‘It’s no good your looking at me like that, James. 
I am old enough to judge for myself, and if I choose 
to try to do a little good in my old age, why 
shouldn’t I ? ’ 

‘ Why not, indeed ? But if the governor were not 
one of my oldest friends, and a man in a thousand, 
you would have found yourself and your precious 
proteges in prison at this moment,’ observed her 
brother. 


376 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 


* Pray have you got secret police too ? ’ demanded 
Miss Hamilton, who had expected him to know about 
her harbouring the two revolutionaries, but had not 
expected him to know of her visit to the governor. 

‘Not at all. Stefan Stefanovitch [the governor’s 
name] telephoned to me ; that ’s all.’ 

‘ And you are willing that I should take them to 
England with me ? ’ she asked. 

‘Would it be any good objecting? Not that I do 
object, since we had already decided that you and 
Nina should go back as soon as possible. I think it 
will be very convenient to have a footman with you 
who can speak English, and whose gratitude will 
make him take care of you.’ 

‘I don’t like leaving you here alone, James,’ said 
his sister doubtfully. 

‘ As for that, I don’t want to be rude, but I would 
rather be without you; and I shall be much safer 
alone. I wouldn’t go through what I have done these 
few months for all the business in the world; but 
don’t be alarmed for me ; I run no danger — without 
you. With you, if you had remained, I really don’t 
know what might not have happened,’ he remarked 
severely, ‘ now that you haye taken to plotting and 
disguises 1 * 

Miss Hamilton made no reply; indeed, there was 
not much time, for they had to pack. ‘ And Nina must 


MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 377 

be told. I wonder how she will take the news/ said 
her aunt. 

‘She knows, and she and Nathalia are shedding 
bitter tears together,’ said Mr Hamilton. 

‘No, I am not, papa; I did cry a little, because 
Nathalia was so sad, and I did not want to leave you ; 
and I am sorry to say good-bye to Nathalia, but we 
shall meet again when she comes to France to fetch 
Olga. But as you say you will come back next 
month for the summer, I don’t feel so bad about it ; 
but I am sorry I have been so much trouble, and 
upset your plans,’ said Nina, who had come into the 
room and overheard her father’s last remark. 

‘ Well, you meant no harm ; perhaps it will teach 
you to be less independent and to have a smaller 
opinion of your own judgment/ said her father, 
putting his arm round her. 

They were sitting thus when Madame Poltiskoff 
was announced. She rushed at Miss Hamilton and 
kissed her affectionately. ‘ Oh, how can I ever thank 
you ? You have saved my daughter’s life, you and 
this dear child here ; ’ and she kissed Nina too several 
times. 

Then she and Mr Hamilton began to talk rapidly 
in Kussian, and the latter suddenly said, ‘ But where 
is Olga all this time ? ’ 

‘ Locked in my linen-cupboard ; perhaps I had 


378 MISS HAMILTON’S PLOT. 

better let her out/ said Miss Hamilton, and she went 
off to do it. 

Mr Hamilton and Nina felt inclined to laugh, Miss 
Hamilton was so comical ; but they did not, for they 
thought of poor Madame PoltiskofF, who had to say 
good-bye to her daughter for a year, for which time 
she was exiled. 

And the next day Miss Hamilton, Nina, Olga, Anna, 
and the new footman — their passports in order, and 
safety before them — were seen off at the station by 
Mr Hamilton and Claude, both of whom were soon to 
follow them to England, the land of freedom. 


THE END. 


Edinburgh : 

Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited. 








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